in a flash

Idioms  

1. Also,. Quickly, immediately. For example, I'll be with you in a flash, or He said he'd be done in a jiffy, or I'll be off the phone in a second, or I felt a drop or two, and in a trice there was a downpour. The first idiom alludes to a flash of lightning and dates from about 1800. The word jiffy, meaning “a short time,” is of uncertain origin and dates from the late 1700s (as does the idiom using it); a second, literally one-sixtieth of a minute, has been used vaguely to mean “a very short time” since the early 1800s; and trice originally meant “a single pull at something” and has been used figuratively since the 1500s.

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Example Sentences

In a flash of lightning, he saw a “huge tsunami-like wave crashing through large trees with a terrifying roar,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

In a flash, the journalist is gone, leaving Gustav to grumble, “TikTok troll.”

From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026

In a flash, she springs into action, her muscles tensed and claws unsheathed.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2025

In a flash, and through a bevy of bezels and gold, there he appeared.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2023

In a flash she invented a lie and up went her hand.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith