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• flash
  flash

  noun

  a brief, sudden burst of bright light.
• FLASH
  FLASH

  noun

  a precedence code for handling messages about initial enemy contact or operational combat messages of extreme urgency within the U.S. military.

flash

¹ American  

[flash] / flæʃ /

noun

• flashes
  plural

1. a brief, sudden burst of bright light.

   The sky lit up with a flash of lightning.

   Synonyms:

   glare, gleam, flare

2. a sudden, brief outburst or display of joy, wit, etc..

   Her brilliant eye for detail and quiet flashes of humor make the book a joy to read.

3. a very brief moment; instant.

   I'll be back in a flash.

   Synonyms:

   wink, twinkling

4. Informal. flashlight.

5. Journalism. news flash.

6. Photography.

   1. bright artificial light thrown briefly upon a subject during an exposure.

   2. flash lamp.

   3. flashbulb.

   4. electronic flash.

7. the sudden flame or intense heat produced by a bomb or other explosive device.

8. a sudden thought, insight, inspiration, or vision.

   I smelled the sea breeze and had a flash of my childhood summers at the beach.

9. a showy or ostentatious display.

10. Slang. rush.

11. Metallurgy.

    1. a ridge of metal left on a casting by a seam between parts of the mold.

    2. a ridge formed at the edge of a forging or weld where excess metal has been squeezed out.

12. Poker. a hand containing all five suits in a game played with a five-suit pack.

13. 1. a device, such as a lock or sluice, for confining and releasing water to send a boat down a shallow stream.

    2. the rush of water thus produced.

14. hot flash.

15. Obsolete. the cant or jargon of thieves, vagabonds, etc.

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verb (used without object)

• flashes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• flashed,
  past participle,  past
• flashing
  present participle

1. to break forth into sudden flame or light, especially transiently or intermittently.

   We saw a buoy flashing in the distance.

2. to gleam.

   The car's chrome bumpers flashed in the sun.

   Synonyms:

   scintillate

3. to burst suddenly into view or perception.

   The answer flashed into his mind.

4. to move very suddenly and quickly.

5. to speak or behave with sudden anger, outrage, or the like (often followed byout ).

   to flash out at a stupid remark.

6. to break into sudden action.

7. Slang. to open one's clothes and expose the genitals suddenly, and usually briefly, in public.

8. Slang. to experience the intense effects of a narcotic or stimulant drug.

9. to dash or splash, as the sea or waves.

10. Archaic. to make a flash or sudden display.

verb (used with object)

• flashes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• flashed,
  past participle,  past
• flashing
  present participle

1. to emit or send forth (fire or light) in sudden bursts.

2. to cause to emit or reflect light.

   There was a driver tailgating them who kept flashing his high beams and honking his horn.

   A beekeeper I knew used to flash a mirror at his hive to help settle them.

3. to communicate instantly.

   The airline flashed the updated flight time on the overhead display.

4. to make an ostentatious display of.

   He's forever flashing a large roll of bills.

5. to display suddenly and briefly.

   She flashed her ID card at the guard.

6. to change (water) instantly into steam by pouring or directing onto a hot surface.

7. to increase the flow of water in (a river, channel, etc.).

8. Glassmaking and Ceramics.

   1. to coat (plain glass or a glass or ceramic object) with a layer of colored, opalescent, or white glass.

   2. to apply (such a layer).

   3. to color or make (glass) opaque by reheating.

9. Building Trades. to protect from leakage with flashing.

10. Computers.

    1. to write a program, file, etc. to the part of (a device's) memory that is reprogrammable and retains information even with the power turned off.

       If you're still having problems, you can flash the router.

    2. to write (a program, file, etc.) to the part of a device's memory that is reprogrammable and retains information even with the power turned off.

       I flashed the device's firmware using the latest version available.

11. Cards. to expose (a card) in the process of dealing.

12. Archaic. to dash or splash (water).

adjective

1. happening suddenly and usually lasting a short time.

   a flash storm.

2. very brief, fast, or short: flash poetry and fiction.

   flash freezing of vegetables;

   flash poetry and fiction.

3. Computers. relating to or using a type of reprogrammable memory that retains information even with the power turned off.

   a flash drive.

4. showy or ostentatious.

   Synonyms:

   ostentatious, pretentious, tawdry, gaudy, flashy

5. caused by or used as protection against flash from an explosive device.

   flash injuries; flash clothing.

6. counterfeit or sham.

   Synonyms:

   fake, false

7. Obsolete. belonging to or connected with thieves, vagabonds, etc., or their cant or jargon.

idioms

1. flash on,

   1. to have a sudden thought, insight, or inspiration about.

   2. to have a sudden, vivid memory or mental picture of.

      I just flashed on that day we spent at the lake.

   3. to feel an instantaneous understanding and appreciation of.

2. flash in the pan,

   1. a brief, intense effort that produces no significant result.

   2. a person or thing that enjoys short-lived success.

FLASH ² American  

[flash] / flæʃ /

noun

1. a precedence code for handling messages about initial enemy contact or operational combat messages of extreme urgency within the U.S. military.

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flash British  

/ flæʃ /

noun

1. a sudden short blaze of intense light or flame

   a flash of sunlight

2. a sudden occurrence or display, esp one suggestive of brilliance

   a flash of understanding

3. a very brief space of time

   over in a flash

4. an ostentatious display

   a flash of her diamonds

5. Also called: newsflash. a short news announcement concerning a new event

6. Also called: patch. an insignia or emblem worn on a uniform, vehicle, etc, to identify its military formation

7. a patch of bright colour on a dark background, such as light marking on an animal

8. a volatile mixture of inorganic salts used to produce a glaze on bricks or tiles

9. 1. a sudden rush of water down a river or watercourse

   2. a device, such as a sluice, for producing such a rush

10. informal photog short for flashlight flash photography

11. a ridge of thin metal or plastic formed on a moulded object by the extrusion of excess material between dies

12. dialect a pond, esp one produced as a consequence of subsidence

13. (modifier) involving, using, or produced by a flash of heat, light, etc

    flash blindness

    flash distillation

14. a project, person, etc, that enjoys only short-lived success, notoriety, etc

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adjective

1. informal ostentatious or vulgar

2. informal of or relating to gamblers and followers of boxing and racing

3. sham or counterfeit

4. informal relating to or characteristic of the criminal underworld

5. brief and rapid

   flash freezing

verb

1. to burst or cause to burst suddenly or intermittently into flame

2. to emit or reflect or cause to emit or reflect light suddenly or intermittently

3. (intr) to move very fast

   he flashed by on his bicycle

4. (intr) to come rapidly (into the mind or vision)

5. (intr; foll by out or up) to appear like a sudden light

   his anger really flashes out at times

6. 1. to signal or communicate very fast

      to flash a message

   2. to signal by use of a light, such as car headlights

7. informal (tr) to display ostentatiously

   to flash money around

8. informal (tr) to show suddenly and briefly

9. slang (intr) to expose oneself indecently

10. (tr) to cover (a roof) with flashing

11. to send a sudden rush of water down (a river, etc), or to carry (a vessel) down by this method

12. (in the making of glass) to coat (glass) with a thin layer of glass of a different colour

13. (tr) to subject to a brief pulse of heat or radiation

14. (tr) to change (a liquid) to a gas by causing it to hit a hot surface

15. obsolete to splash or dash (water)

flash More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing flash

• in a flash
• quick as a wink (flash)

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Synonym Usage

Flash, glance, glint, glitter mean to send forth a sudden gleam (or gleams) of bright light. To flash is to send forth light with a sudden, transient brilliancy: A shooting star flashed briefly. To glance is to emit a brilliant flash of light as a reflection from a smooth surface: Sunlight glanced from the glass windshield. Glint suggests a hard bright gleam of reflected light, as from something polished or burnished: Light glints from silver or from burnished copper. To glitter is to reflect intermittent flashes of light from a hard surface: Ice glitters in the moonlight.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outflash
  verb (used with object)
• flashingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• flashes
  plural

Participles

• flashing
  present
• flashed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• flash
  simple
• flashes
  simple
• have flashed
  perfect
• has flashed
  perfect
• am flashing
  progressive
• are flashing
  progressive
• is flashing
  progressive
• have been flashing
  perfect progressive
• has been flashing
  perfect progressive

Past

• flashed
  simple
• had flashed
  perfect
• was flashing
  progressive
• were flashing
  progressive
• had been flashing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will flash
  simple
• will have flashed
  perfect
• will be flashing
  progressive
• will have been flashing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of flash

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English flasshen “to sprinkle, splash,” earlier flask(i)en; probably phonesthemic in origin; compare similar expressive words with fl- and -sh

Explanation

Ever notice how quick the flash is on a camera? That's how fast other types of flashes are, including the super-fast superhero The Flash. Whether you're talking about a flash of lighting or a flash of insight, a flash is quick and bright and sudden. There aren't any slow, long flashes. Because flashes are so fast, the word is often used for anything that happens really quickly: a flash is as fast as a New York minute, the blink of an eye, a heartbeat, an instant, a jiffy, or a split second.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flash FLASH flashes flashed flashing

Woven into the narratives are interludes—some are standalone chapters, others are lengthy parenthetical additions—that flash forward to reveal the anticlimaxes of the characters’ latter years and, as Ms. Li views it, their irrelevance to posterity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Only toward the very end of that scene after John has hit Hal, and Hal says, “Don’t let anybody know that you were here,” is there a flash that something has changed in this guy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

"This is the longest lasting prompt X-ray flash ever observed from a neutron star merger," said graduate student Niccolò Passaleva, who led the follow-up observations using the VLT in Chile.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

The NHC said "life-threatening winds and flash floods" were expected across Mexico's Baja California Sur and Sonora states on Monday and Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

She sent him a flash of angry purple to let him know she didn't appreciate that kind of sudden movement.

From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville

It’s called FLASH, for Family Life and Sexual Health, and every year, teachers nationwide download tens of thousands of its lesson plans.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 24, 2017

That’s difficult for some teachers, said Kari Kesler, one of the lead authors of FLASH.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 24, 2017

Magoč, T. & Salzberg, S. L. FLASH: fast length adjustment of short reads to improve genome assemblies.

From Nature ● Nov. 14, 2017

Meta says its glasses are equipped with a LED light that flashes when a photo or video is taken and cannot be turned off without rendering the camera inoperable.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Now, new research suggests that some neutron star mergers may also produce X-ray flashes that remain visible for several minutes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

Tightly curated presentations at the major New York art fair offered flashes of creativity amid an overall selection that was underwhelming.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Then, in a scene in which Misty demands she be allowed to finish an audition, she flashes into someone else in a bit of pure craft that leaves those in the room astonished.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

He was a tall, gangly, intense, quarrelsome teenager, a quixotic chess prince who exhibited occasional flashes of charm and grace.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

At one point during his talk, an image flashed on the screen behind him of its Muse mascot embracing a blue padlock.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

The bond market cratered Wednesday, with the 10-year Treasury yield soaring to its highest since 2007, after S&P’s September PMI rose to its highest since July 2021 and flashed an inflation warning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Before that, the most recent Hindenburg cluster warning flashed on Sept. 14, 2018.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

“I’m stuck,” read one message that he flashed to the spectators below.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

Gagarin flashed that reassuring smile everyone had come to love.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Technical indicators are flashing bullish for the three Barron’s stock picks.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

“I’ve got a gray uniform on, I expect boos. It’s OK,” he said, flashing that bright smile.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

In any case, simple breadth technical indicators have been flashing sell signals for stocks for some time.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Inside the administration, the Mythos model was a “red flashing light,” a senior administration official said, prompting round-the-clock calls for days.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Dr. Spires held out a pamphlet, flashing a reassuring smile.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Related Words

• beam
• blaze
• burst
• flame
• flare
• glare
• gleam
• glimmer
• glint
• glitter
• glow
• radiation
• ray
• reflection
• spark
• sparkle
• vision