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Glite Dictionary
➖ No activity ➖ To stop living ➖ To stop changing
to flatline

to flatline

7 6.3
To stop showing activity on a monitor, often meaning a person dies or a machine stops working
  • verb
  • /ˈflætˌlaɪn/
translation icon : dejar de funcionar
  • During the surgery, the patient's heart suddenly flatlined, prompting the doctors to act quickly.
  • brain activity flatlined

Examples

  • Doctor, number three just flatlined.

    I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

  • There was no kind of rise in the middle of the day and it just kind of flatlined all day long.

  • Short story: my best friend flatlined in my car on the way to the hospital.

    Blog text (30)

  • He flatlined, and then his heart started again.

    Dragonfly (2002)

  • Her body limp, bio-monitors showing her brain activity flatlined.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The machine alarm signaled that the patient had flatlined, indicating a critical situation.

  • When the monitor displayed that she had flatlined, the medical team rushed to revive her.

Antonyms

to function
441 2.6

To work in a particular role or job

to revive
71 4.1

To make a person conscious again after fainting

How Functional

to operate
506 2.8
to function
441 2.6
to fail
370 2.2
to flatline
7 6.3

Surface Forms

flatline infinitive
flatlined past
flatlined past participle
flatlining present participle
flatlines third person singular

Morphology

flatline = flat + line (semi-transparent) = flat + line

The verb is a straightforward conversion of the noun phrase into a verb (to show a flat line), but the implicature 'to die' is a specialized extension not directly deducible from the parts alone.

Etymology

The word flatline comes from the picture of a flat 'level' line on a heart monitor that shows 'no heartbeat'. So to flatline is to stop working or die, when a machine or person shows no activity.