in a flash

Idioms  

1. Also,. Quickly, immediately. For example, I'll be with you in a flash, or He said he'd be done in a jiffy, or I'll be off the phone in a second, or I felt a drop or two, and in a trice there was a downpour. The first idiom alludes to a flash of lightning and dates from about 1800. The word jiffy, meaning “a short time,” is of uncertain origin and dates from the late 1700s (as does the idiom using it); a second, literally one-sixtieth of a minute, has been used vaguely to mean “a very short time” since the early 1800s; and trice originally meant “a single pull at something” and has been used figuratively since the 1500s.

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Example Sentences

Last month — to their surprise and seemingly in a flash — Edwards and his wife’s net worth hit $1 million, with home equity accounting for just one-fourth of it.

From MarketWatch • May 15, 2026

The American president is about to appear when the broadcast abruptly cuts off and the room blanks out in a flash of white.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

She finally got the job done after 39 minutes on her seventh chance, slamming a ball she was holding in her hand down on the court in a flash of anger.

From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026

Castellanos said Quintana’s account would post Instagram stories with “symbols or abbreviations which coincided with intersections allowing for all to respond in a flash mob fashion and overwhelm the location.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2025

I would do this in a flash if it weren’t for my father.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko