flash drive

American  

Trademark, ThumbDrive, or flashdrive

noun

Computers.

flash drives plural

1. a very small, portable, solid-state hard drive that can be inserted into a USB port for storage and retrieval of data.

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flash drive British  

noun

1. a pocket-sized portable computer hard drive and data storage device See also key drive pen drive thumb drive USB drive

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• flash drives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of flash drive

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Much of the conflict information was placed on a flash drive and given to Smith in person by Martisa Garcia, an employee of Richardson, Higgins said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026

Meanwhile, Sandisk released a 1-terabyte $128 USB-C flash drive so small you can just leave it plugged in.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 11, 2026

A year after being handed a 20-year ban on filmmaking he dispatched a documentary with the title "This is Not a Film" to the Cannes Festival on a flash drive stashed in a cake.

From Barron's • Dec. 1, 2025

The one they used cost about $1000, is the size of a cigarette lighter and plugs into a laptop like a flash drive.

From New York Times • May 15, 2023

That night, after I shut off the lights and disabled the security cameras, I unlocked my entertainment unit’s maintenance access panel and installed the flash drive into an expansion slot used for firmware upgrades.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline