flat-, flatu-

1. Creative inspiration, usually thought of as being from a divine source: It was considered to be a spiritual afflatus for the members of the convent to go on a pilgrimage to the mountain hermitage.
2. A strong creative impulse, especially from a supernatural inspiration: Harriet's inspirational poetry seemed to come from an afflatus.
3. Etymology: "a miraculous reception of heavenly knowledge" which is from Latin afflatus, "a breathing upon, a blast", from the past participle stem of afflare, "to blow upon"; from ad-, "to" + flare, "to blow". © ALL rights are reserved.

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1. To bring together; to meld or to fuse: In the meeting, the members conflated the different noints of the issue showing that they really only pertained to a single important problem to be solved.
2. To combine (two variant texts, for example) into one whole: In her new book, the author conflated parts of her older books into one and brought in some new aspects as well.
3. Etymology: from Latin conflat-, past participle stem of conflare, "to blow together"; also, "to melt together"; from con-, "with" + flare. "to blow". In the meeting, the members conflated the different noints of the issue showing that they really only pertained to a single important problem to be solved.

1. A blowing together, as of many instruments in a concert: There have been conflations of many fires in the dry brush and forest areas of Australia.
2. The process or result of fusing items into one entity, such as fusion; amalgamation: The method of combining two individual maps in cartography into one new map is termed conflation.
3. The combination of two variant texts into a new one: The author, Mrs. Black, used the method of conflation by combining the content of two of her stories into one.
4. The combining or blending of two or more versions of a text; confusion or mixing up: Somehow Jane got muddles up while answering the questions in her exam, and her teacher commented that a condition of conflation occurred in her answers.

1. To let out air or gas from an inflatable object with the result that it shrinks or loses air or gas: After two days, Tommy's birthday balloons deflated and collapsed!
2. To destroy somebody's confidence or to make someone less self-assured or conceited: Mary's ego was deflated when her friends said that they didn't want her to go with them to the beach.
3. To show that an argument is in error: Doug's reason for going on a strict diet was dashed or deflated when he was offered some delicious ice cream!
4. To bring about deflation in the economy or the money supply: The country's economic situation was not good and the amount of available currency was reduced or deflated causing a decline in value or lower prices.
5. Etymology: a referenced to balloons, coinage based on infly'ste; from Latin deflare, meaning "to blow away", but in the modern word the prefix is presented in the sense of "down."

1. The release, or escape, of air or gas from something, resulting in its shrinking or collapsing: Deflation inevitably happens when a bike's tire runs over a big nail and is punctured!
2. A sudden loss of confidence, self-assurance: Sally's mother could see deflation all over her daughter's face when she told her mother that she received a very bad grade in the last German test.
3. A persistent decrease in the level of consumer prices or a persistent increase in the purchasing power of money because of a reduction in available currency and credit: The population was caught up in a time of deflation and the unemployment rate as very high.
4. In geology, the erosion of soil by the wind: Deflation is the mechanical process of sand, dust, or rocks, for example, being ground down, worn away, or even removed by the wind.

Deflation, an economic inconvenience or a serious problem

Economic deflation refers to a decline in general price levels, often caused by a reduction in the supply of money or credit.

Deflation can also be brought about by direct contractions in spending, either in the form of a reduction in government spending, personal spending, or investment spending.

Deflation has often had the side effect of increasing unemployment in an economy, since the process often leads to a lower level of demand by people for products in the various economic areas.

A lake in a basin that was formed primarily by wind erosion: The photo of a deflation lake that Jane saw in her biology book was located in a semiarid region.

1. Regarding, undergoing, or creating a lower level of general economic activity: Deflationary aspects of the economy a could be a continuous decrease in the consumer prices or a constant increase in the purchasing power of money.
2. Serving to reduce or to destroy someone else's self-assurance or confidence: At school, some of the boys in Jane's class made really bad deflationary remarks about her family background.

1. Excessive gas, or air, in the stomach and intestines: Kitty had a very uncomfortable feeling in her abdomen and her doctor said that it was a case of flatulence, or the accumulation of gas, in her intestine.
2. The production of a mixture of gases or air in the digestive tract of mammals or other animals that are byproducts of the digestion process: When expelled from the body, flatulences can be very smelly and frequently occur with noise.

Such a mixture of gases is known as "flatus", and is expelled from the rectum in a process colloquially referred to as "passing gas".

Under certain circumstances, food particles from the small intestine may pass undigested through the large intestine (the area where the fermentation process is facilitated). When the bacteria present in the colon attacks these undigested materials, the resulting gas gives the flatus its characteristic odor.

Causes of Stomach and Intestinal Gas

• Excessive belching which takes in more air than is expelled.
• Consumption of abnormal amounts of carbonated beverages.
• Swallowing air while eating.
• Bacterial action on ingested foods.
• Air which is swallowed and forced into the intestinal tract by peristalsis (wavelike muscular contractions in organs of the digestive system, such as the esophagus and the intestines).

1. Windiness in the stomach: Flatulency is air generated in a weak stomach and intestines by imperfect digestion, occasioning distension, uneasiness, pain, and often belchings.
2. A state of excessive gas in the alimentary canal: The term flatulency is actually outdated, going back to 1660, and can cause much suffering in the region of the abdomen.
3. Airiness; emptiness; vanity: Flatulency can also pertain to speech that is pompous or pretentious.

Affected with or characterized by gas, or excessive gas, in the the stomach or the intestinal tract: Floyd knew his tendency towards being flatulent and likely to fart, so he avoided pizza with onions or cabbage soup, for example, especially when being with others in a restaurant.

Dyspepsia (ingestion) marked by a sensation of abdominal fullness; gaseous dyspepsia: The condition of flatulent dyspepsia may produce an excessive eructation of gas, better known as burping or belchingm, that means casting up wind (expelling air noisily) from the stomach through the mouth.

Pertaining to a tendancy that causes, or produces gas that is trapped in the digestive system: Certain foods can be considered to be flatulogenic or "gaseous".

Some foods are flatulogenic, earning them the reputation of being the top flatus producers, including beans, bran, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and onions. For some people, beer, carbonated beverages, and milk can also be flatulogenic.

There are some foods that are mildly flatulogenic, such as apples, apricots, bananas, carrots, celery, all citrus fruits, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, potatoes, prunes and raisins. Radishes, soybeans and spinach can also be classified under these flatulogenic groups.

A reference to conditions, or situations, which can cause or generate gas in the stomach or intestines: Stress is known to trigger, to aggravate, or to be flatulogenous causes of ailments for some people.

1. A reference to gas, or air production in the bowels: Mr. Black didn't want to eat any beans because of the flatulopetic effects it had on him.
2. Pretentious, pompous, inflated: Jenny seemed to be such a flatulopetic and conceited girl, and nobody wanted to be her friend.
3. Etymology: from Latin flatus, "blowing" + Greek -poietic, "creation".

1. Gas in the digestive, or intestinal tract: Flatus from the lower intestinal tract contains hydrogen, methane, skatoles (white crystalline organic compound having a strong fecal odor), indoles (bacterial decomposition in the intestine), carbon dioxide, and small amounts of oxygen and nitrogen.
2. The expelling of gas, or air, from a body orifice, especially the anus: The passing of flatuses may average a dozen a day in some people and up to a hundred times in others.

The foul smell usually is caused by small traces of gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane.