flash in the pan


Someone or something that promises great success but soon fails: “The rock group that was all the rage last year turned out to be just another flash in the pan.”

Words Nearby flash in the pan

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use flash in the pan in a sentence

  • "Flash-in-the-Pan" suddenly realises the enormous issues depending on him and faints in his trainer's arms.

  • It was a sudden smite,—one of those flash-in-the-pan, love-at-first-sight affairs.

    Marion's Faith. | Charles King
  • I can deal with traitors, but these flash-in-the-pan plotters—these shaking, jelly-bodied patriots!

    Vittoria, Complete | George Meredith

Other Idioms and Phrases with flash in the pan

flash in the pan

An effort or person that promises great success but fails. For example, His second novel proved to be a flash in the pan, or We had high hopes for the new director, but she was a flash in the pan. This metaphoric term alludes to the 17th-century flintlock musket, which could be fired only when the flash of the priming powder in the lockpan ignited the charge in the bore. When it failed to ignite, there was only a flash in the pan and the gun did not shoot.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.