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

See Examples For:

in a flash

He knows he will die in the coming months, but still feels physically fit — yet he lives with the knowledge that his condition can worsen in a flash.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

But that illusion is impossible if all of space-time occurs in a flash.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 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

“One Battle After Another” moves with breakneck speed, its 162 minutes going by in a flash.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026

It was too risky to kick him, or even to make my voice wink-wink: Chrissie would have picked it up in a flash.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro