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flash burn

American

noun

a burn produced by brief exposure to intense, radiant heat, as from an explosion.

flash burn British

noun

pathol a burn caused by momentary exposure to intense radiant heat

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of flash burn

First recorded in 1945–50

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.

King sustained a flash burn in his left eye, requiring a trip to an ophthalmologist and a course of eye drops.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 25, 2017

The supervisor who was standing with him, and came to his aid, also sustained a flash burn, but is now back on the job, he said.

From Washington Post • Jan. 26, 2017

Dr. Mitchell Sams of the University of Alabama in Birmingham recalls one patient with a second-degree "flash burn all over" his body.

From Time Magazine Archive

I felt it rub up against my bare skin and had to turn my face away from the blinding light that came next—a flash burn that erased anything and everything that stood in its way.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

The greatest number of radiation injuries was probably due to the ultra-violet rays which have a wave length slightly shorter than visible light and which caused flash burn comparable to severe sunburn.

From The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Manhattan District

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023