flak jacket
Americannoun
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U.S. Air Force. an armored garment made of steel plates covered by a padded fabric, designed to protect vital parts of the body from shrapnel.
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a protective vest, especially one that is bulletproof.
noun
Etymology
Origin of flak jacket
First recorded in 1955–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wine, who has been repeatedly arrested in the past, campaigned in a flak jacket, saying the race has become a "war".
From Barron's • Jan. 12, 2026
Shortly before Abdallah was killed, he posted on Instagram a picture of himself wearing a helmet and a flak jacket with the word "press" written on it.
From BBC • Nov. 7, 2023
Salem, still wearing a protective flak jacket, picked up his wife, Khawla, and drove in his armoured vehicle to Gaza City’s Al-Sahaba hospital.
From Reuters • Oct. 12, 2023
A gray-haired Israeli woman was sandwiched on a motorbike between a driver in a flak jacket and a man with a rifle.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 7, 2023
The captain who greeted us was wearing a flak jacket, the heavy vest that was supposed to stop bullets and shrapnel.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.