Stars and Stripes

American  

noun

1. the national flag of the U.S., consisting of 13 horizontal stripes that are alternately red and white, representing the original states, and of a blue field containing 50 white stars, representing the present states.

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Stars and Stripes British  

noun

1. Also known as: the Star-Spangled Banner.  (functioning as singular) the national flag of the United States of America, consisting of 50 white stars representing the present states on a blue field and seven red and six white horizontal stripes representing the original states

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Stars and Stripes Cultural  

1. The national flag of the United States. Its fifty stars represent the fifty states; its thirteen stripes represent the thirteen colonies that became the original states.

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Example Sentences

Then the two men walked arm-in-arm while a band played the Stars and Stripes, and Turkish air force jets performed a flypast overhead, trailing red, white and blue smoke.

From BBC • Jul. 7, 2026

“This happened in the coldest way possible: DA Form 3434 stated that my last day as ombudsman for Stars and Stripes is April 28,” she wrote.

From Salon • May 3, 2026

At times, the Lion and Sun flag—the national flag of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution—seemed almost as common as the Stars and Stripes.

From Slate • Mar. 27, 2026

And as he reached third base, he stopped to salute his teammates and pointed at the Stars and Stripes on his uniform sleeve.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

On the day that Seabiscuit lost the Stars and Stripes, the “Argentine Jumping Bean” had broken the track record in the American Handicap.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand