flat-footed

See also: flatfooted

English

WOTD – 12 September 2025

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: (one pronunciation) -ʊtɪd
  • Hyphenation: flat-foot‧ed

Etymology 1

From flat (adjective) +‎ footed (adjective).[1]

Adjective

flat-footed (comparative more flat-footed, superlative most flat-footed)

  1. Of an animal: having feet which are naturally flat; (specifically) of a horse: having hoofs with soles close to the ground.
    Bears are flat-footed animals.
  3. Of a person: having the physical condition of flat feet (“a condition where the soles of the feet are in full contact with the ground, either because the arches have collapsed or because they never developed”).
  4. (by extension) Of a thing (especially (rail transport) a rail): having a flat base; flat-bottomed.
    • 1889, George Findlay, “Permanent Way”, in The Working and Management of an English Railway. […], 2nd edition, London: Whittaker & Co, […]; George Bell & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 42:
      These rails, […] were of the "fish-bellied" pattern, but in practice, and as the demand increased, these were found troublesome to roll, and this difficulty led to the introduction of the flat-bottomed or "flat-footed" section of rail, combining a solid head with a flanged base.
  5. (figurative)
    1. Blunt and unsubtle; lacking finesse; clumsy.
      Synonym: maladroit
      • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXVII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 276:
        The thing made a big stir in the town, too, and a good many come out flat-footed and said it was scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way.
      • 2006, William Terdoslavich, “Weapons: The Right Tools for the Right Plot”, in The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis, New York, N.Y.: Forge, →ISBN:
        Two Saudi battalions and a Qatari armored battalion were tasked with retaking the town, which they did in a slow and flat-footed fashion, supported by ample U.S. artillery and air power.
      • 2010, Chris Lewit, Tennis Technique Bible: The Essential Reference for Mastering World-class Strokes and Footwork, volume 1, [Manchester, Vt.]: Chris Lewit Tennis, →ISBN, page 20:
        I have many top ranked sectional and national level kids come to my program and I cannot even believe how flatfooted they are—not because they lack the talent—simply because no coach ever demanded the extra footwork effort from them.
      • 2012, Jesse J. Prinz, “Whence the Unity of Consciousness? Attentional Resonance”, in The Conscious Brain: How Attention Engenders Experience (Philosophy of Mind), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Metaphysical Puzzles of Consciousness), page 250:
        I can't experience your experiences. What special relation to two experiences in my head have that an experience in my head lacks with respect to an experience in yours? One flat-footed answer is that they are both mine.
      • 2017 March 21, Michiko Kakutani, “‘The Death of Expertise’ explores how ignorance became a virtue”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 April 2025:
        "The Death of Expertise" [by Tom Nichols, 2017] turns out to be an unexceptional book about an important subject. […] [I]t's more of a flat-footed compendium than an original work, pulling together examples from recent news stories while iterating arguments explored in more depth in books like Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason," Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason," Robert Hughes's "Culture of Complaint" and, of course, Richard Hofstadter's 1963 classic, "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life."
      • 2019 April 11, Marcel Theroux, “Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan review – intelligent mischief”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 June 2025:
        […] [Ian] McEwan's narrator, […] explicitly sets out his world, overexplains the historical context and never turns down a chance to offer an essayistic digression. To my taste, this is a flat-footed way of doing sci-fi.
    2. (US) Unprepared, unready.
      They were caught flat-footed when Clancy filed to enter the race.
      • 2007, David D. Corbett, with Richard Higgins, “Trailblazing”, in Portfolio Life: The New Path to Work, Purpose, and Passion After 50, San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 12:
        To those who are younger, perhaps still building a career, I say to you, plan for it! No one should be caught flatfooted by the lengthening of middle age.
      • 2009, Tami Hoag, Deeper than the Dead, London: Orion Books, Orion Publishing Group, published 2010, →ISBN, page 244:
        Caught mentally flatfooted, Anne couldn't think of a response. She was guilty as charged. She didn't deserve to defend herself.
    3. (originally US, informal, dated) Direct, downright, straightforward; also, holding firmly to and maintaining a decision; standing one's ground.
      • 1834 January, [James Strange French], “Buck Horn Tavern, a Scene in the West”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume III, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Clark and Edson, →OCLC, page 35:
        Now, you need'nt talk 'bout your shoes, kase you see I'm barefooted, I haint got no shoes, tis true, but I stand flat-footed and damn the man who can move me one inch—do you hear that Wolfe!
      • 1892 June 6 (date written), Charles Moore, quoting Francis D[avid] Millet, “The Chicago World’s Fair Marks the Beginnings of Civic Art in America”, in The Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published 1929, →OCLC, page 120:
        All these remarks are in strict confidence, and I write in this way to urge you [Charles Follen McKim] to be explicit and flat-footed in your wishes.
      • 1952, William T. Campbell, Big Beverage, Atlanta, Ga.: Tupper & Love, →OCLC, page 269:
        Proficient drinkers could spill out an ounce, or an ounce and a half, or two, from the neck of a Solo Soda bottle in the dark, measured to the very dram, refill it with corn whisky, turn it upside down with the thumb placed carefully over the bottle's lip—for a good mix, and luck—and drink it down, flatfooted.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
  • flat-footedly
  • flat-footedness
Translations

Etymology 2

From flat-foot +‎ -ed (suffix forming past tense forms of regular verbs).

Verb

flat-footed

  1. simple past and past participle of flat-foot.
Alternative forms

References

  1. ^ “flat-footed, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025; “flat-footed, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.