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

Kuda handed Trashman a bottle cap, and he began to flatten it with his teeth.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

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

Sometimes it flattens the experience into palatable passive consumption.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

“When this ratio flattens, it suggests a potential balancing of labor supply and demand,” Jefferson said, according to a published text of his remarks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

His voice flattens, his words become stripped back.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025

The fourth time we actually get further, building a second level before the whole thing flattens.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Pictures at the Lewes derailment have shown how the force of the train leaving the tracks had flattened trees and left a piece of track strewn across the embankment.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

That night, a million hushed “sorry!’s” could be heard throughout the auditorium as hordes of alternatively inclined women — because there were mostly women — flattened themselves to move through their row.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

He pointed to a pile of litter and flattened cardboard boxes on the concrete ground where he said he was sleeping at night.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

We live saturated in opinion, reaction and digital noise, a culture that turns other people into content: flattened, accelerated, easy to dismiss.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026

The crucial dispute between Cartesians and Newtonians was over the shape of the Earth: Newton predicted an oblate ellipsoid, or flattened, Earth, while the Cartesians had predicted a prolate ellipsoid, or egg-shaped, Earth.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

City plans call for flattening a downtown convention center, a crumbling church and several nearby buildings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty on Friday after tournament officials ruled he had improved the area of his backswing by flattening down some long grass on Royal Birkdale's fifth hole.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 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

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

In the fading light, the trees along the banks were slowly losing their dimensions, flattening into silhouettes clipped from black paper and pasted to the paling sky.

From "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbit