Flat-footed

//ˌflætˈfʊtɪd// adj, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 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."

  2. 2
    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”).

    "[T]he volunteer from the 9th company was shot because he wouldn't advance and made the excuse that he had swollen legs and was flat-footed."

  3. 3
    Of a thing (especially (rail transport) a rail): having a flat base; flat-bottomed. broadly

    "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."

  4. 4
    Blunt and unsubtle; lacking finesse; clumsy. figuratively

    "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."

  5. 5
    Unprepared, unready. US, figuratively

    "They were caught flat-footed when Clancy filed to enter the race."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    Direct, downright, straightforward; also, holding firmly to and maintaining a decision; standing one's ground. dated, figuratively, informal

    "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!"

Adjective
  1. 1
    forthright and explicit wordnet
  2. 2
    with feet flat on the ground; not tiptoe wordnet
  3. 3
    having broad flat feet that usually turn outward wordnet
  4. 4
    unprepared and unable to react quickly wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of flat-foot. form-of, participle, past

Etymology

Etymology 1

From flat (adjective) + footed (adjective).

Etymology 2

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

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: flatfooted