flash in the pan

Cultural  

1. 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.”

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flash in the pan Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

In many ways, Reform has become a force extending far beyond a flash in the pan.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

"We thought that tool use could have been a flash in the pan and then disappeared. When we see 300,000 years of the same thing, that's just not possible," he said.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025

You can watch it and go, "Oh, you're just going home and you're just breaking up with these people. It's just a flash in the pan of your life," but it's a big moment.

From Salon • Nov. 28, 2024

Whether that will make Leverkusen perennial contenders or a one-season flash in the pan remains to be seen.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2024

The anger which was so foreign to her character had been a mere flash in the pan.

From The Trail of Conflict by Loring, Emilie Baker