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

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

Around 25 outfits will strut the catwalk on Sunday, a moment that "goes by in a flash".

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

"When this tree came down, in a flash we lost a species," said ecologist Sabine Nouvet about a 500-year-old oak in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, which fell during Storm Darragh in December.

From BBC • May 18, 2025

And in a flash, Jinny was back a year, back on the beach, and the boat was there.

From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder