flashbulb

American  

[flash-buhlb] / ˈflæʃˌbʌlb /

Or flash bulb

noun

Photography.

1. a glass bulb, filled with oxygen and aluminum or zirconium wire or foil, which, when ignited electrically, burns with a brilliant flash to provide momentary illumination of a subject.

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flashbulb British  

/ ˈflæʃˌbʌlb /

noun

1. Also called: photoflash. photog a small expendable glass light bulb formerly used to produce a bright flash of light Compare electronic flash

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Etymology

Origin of flashbulb

First recorded in 1930–35; flash + bulb

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flashbulb

What’s left is a spectral scene, ghosted by the limitations of old black-and-white photographic technology and further heightened by the uneven glow generated by the camera’s flashbulb.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025

To keep the audience on its toes, some scene changes are punctuated by blinding lights and obnoxiously loud flashbulb clacks.

From New York Times ● May 24, 2024

For me, it became a flashbulb memory, a reminder that art has the power to not only divert people from their dispirited ruminations but also help them reframe their despairing mind-sets.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2022

The Kodak Flashcube—a rotating cube with a miniature flashbulb incarcerated within each of its four mirrored compartments—made amateur photography of the domestic interior possible from the mid-1960s onwards.

From Slate ● Dec. 21, 2021

Then he held it to his chest and the flashbulb popped.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

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