flatten

James C. Scott called this legibility, the way institutions flatten complicated people into categories they can manage.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

The researchers found that rift flanks begin to flatten relatively quickly once tectonic movement ends.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

Although long-term agreements from memory companies and a redesign of AI chips to address memory constraints “could flatten the amplitude of the cycle,” Moore said those factors should increase the duration of the memory boom.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

River can be a good thing, social media algorithms can flatten the context around the waterway, particularly when it comes to demographic changes in nearby neighborhoods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

It took some strength at first to get the huge ball to flatten out, but then it was just a matter of rolling it over and over until it was flat enough.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

“Everyone flattens ideas into a tiny text box for AI, and Olive’s patented model training retains the prosody and turn-taking in a voice exchange to reveal uncompressed intent that a frontier model needs,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Like VIX, it is not as bullish as it could be: The term structure of the VIX futures rises in the front end of the curve but then flattens out.

From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026

But funding a nongambler’s entrance into the gambling world as a kind of comedic protagonist not only puts the writer at risk but also flattens the seriousness of the story’s subject.

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

Over and over again, this documentary makes the point that the screen flattens people’s full humanity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2025

“There’s going to be a pretty good horse race,” wrote the New York World Telegram, “until Seabiscuit flattens out like a rug at the sixteenth pole.”

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

With the sun breaking through and a drying wind, the wicket flattened out and batting seemed to be becoming easier than on day one.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Would seeing your house flattened by Hurricane Shell wake people up?

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

After she finally sought treatment, she wrote, the medication she was prescribed flattened her — in one instance she fell asleep for hours on the set of “Nashville.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

His intentionally flattened stylings emphasize the shallow depth of these subjects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

He crouched low, growling an eerie warning, ears flattened tight against his solid head.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

The quake caused widespread damage in the sweltering southwestern region, flattening homes, damaging bridges, triggering fires and leaving many without electricity and water.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

At this stage, the flattening appears to reflect a market that believes policy is not restrictive enough to bring inflation back to target, rather than a market focused primarily on slowing growth.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

The result is flattening and enervating, and my dissatisfaction was apparently shared by others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Critics of the change say this risks flattening meaningful distinctions between religious identities, particularly for service members whose beliefs do not fall neatly into major denominational groupings.

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

Pebble howls, diving out of a bush and flattening Sand.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz