flashback

[ flash-bak ]
See synonyms for flashback on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.

  2. an event or scene so inserted.

  1. Also called flashback hallucinosis. Psychiatry.

    • the spontaneous recurrence of visual hallucinations or other effects of a drug, as LSD, long after the use of the drug has been discontinued.

    • recurrent and abnormally vivid recollection of a traumatic experience, as a battle, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations.

Origin of flashback

1
1910–15; 1965–70 for def. 3; noun use of verb phrase flash back

Words Nearby flashback

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use flashback in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flashback

flashback

/ (ˈflæʃˌbæk) /


noun
  1. a transition in a novel, film, etc, to an earlier scene or event

verbflash back
  1. (intr, adverb) to return in a novel, film, etc, to a past event

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012