flash drive

American

Trademark, ThumbDrive, or flashdrive

noun

Computers.

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

flash drive British

noun

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

"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 drive

First recorded in 1990–95

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.

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

On Sunday, when it docked in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., law enforcement officers searched his devices, including a cellphone, camera, Apple Watch and a flash drive.

From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2024

“No one knows what’s on the flash drive except the city. The city elected here not to present any admissible evidence about what’s on the flash drive,” the judge said.

From Los Angeles Times • May 24, 2023

Ema plugged the flash drive into her computer port.

From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben

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