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Flat out

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To be working at full speed and maximum effort, or to speak in a direct, blunt, and unequivocal manner; it implies no holding back.

Detailed Definition
Flat out means at maximum speed, effort, or intensity; it can also mean openly or completely, as in a flat-out denial. In poetry, it can convey urgency, exhaustion, refusal, or total commitment. A runner, worker, lover, machine, or speaker may go flat out until the body or language strains. The idiom’s plainness gives it energy in contemporary verse, especially where polished phrasing would feel false. It can also dramatise the modern pressure to perform without pause, subtlety, or reserve.
Example
Example in poetry:
A racing poem may show the horse going flat out across the moor; In a work poem, the mother runs flat out from dawn to dusk; The phrase can express maximum effort or speed; A poet might use flat out to make exhaustion immediate and physical.
Additional Notes
Flat out has two common senses: at maximum speed or effort, and frankly or directly. In poetry, this ambiguity can be useful. A speaker may run flat out, work flat out, or say something flat out. The phrase carries urgency and plainness rather than ornament. Students should use context to decide whether the idiom concerns pace, exertion, honesty, or all three at once.
Also Known As
at full speed
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