flounder
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flounder around
To have a hard time doing something or making progress. She expected to move on to greater success, but ever since she left that popular show, she's just been floundering around.
flounder through (something)
1. To have a hard time physically advancing through something. I floundered through the mud because my boots kept getting stuck.
2. To have a hard time enduring a challenging situation. I definitely floundered through that interview. I stumbled over everything I said!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
flounder around
to struggle or wallow around. The whole company is just floundering around and getting nowhere. The horse floundered around, trying to get across the soggy pasture.
flounder through something
1. Lit. to struggle through something, such as a mire, swamp, etc. The Jeep floundered through the swamp without getting stuck. The horse floundered through the muddy field.
2. Fig. to struggle awkwardly through a difficult situation. We floundered through the performance. I don't know how we did it, but we did it. We just floundered through our presentation, hoping for a lot of questions.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
flat as a pancake
Extremely level, especially too much so. For example, There are no hills; this terrain is flat as a pancake. This simile dates from the 1500s and has survived its contemporary, flat as a flounder. It is sometimes used, either disparagingly or ruefully, to describe a small-breasted woman.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
flat as a pancake
If something is as flat as a pancake, it is very flat. There was barely a breeze and the water was as flat as a pancake. Could he really put up interest rates now? With the economy flat as a pancake and the housing market in crisis?
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
flat as a pancake
completely flat.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
(as) flat as a ˈpancake
(informal) completely flat: There are one or two hills in Norfolk, but otherwise the landscape is as flat as a pancake.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
flat as a pancake
Exceedingly flat, sometimes excessively so. This simile has been around since the sixteenth century, appearing in Nicholas Udall’s translation of Erasmus (1542) and Henry Porter’s play The Two Angrie Women of Abington (1599, 2.3). Morever, it survived and replaced the equally old flat as a flounder and is still frequently used today, often in deprecating fashion to describe a woman’s lack of mammary endowment.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer