white flag

American  

noun

1. an all-white banner or piece of cloth, used as a symbol of surrender or truce.

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idioms

1. hoist / show / wave the white flag, to give up; weaken; yield.

white flag British  

noun

1. a white flag or a piece of white cloth hoisted to signify surrender or request a truce

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Other Word Forms

• white-flag
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of white flag

First recorded in 1590–1600

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white flag

“But if they think I’m going to give up, wave the white flag, they got me wrong.”

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

After a week-long pause in the case, Bloom returned to court to wave a white flag Tuesday afternoon.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026

In short, they are waving the white flag on the idea of predicting when the war will end and the oil will flow.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026

But in an interview with the Melbourne Age newspaper she took aim at Russian and Belarusian players, despite them competing under a neutral white flag as independents.

From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026

‘Well,” Grandpa said, “there’s supposed to be a white flag in the mouth of Black Fox. That’s where we leave the road. The camp is in the river bottoms.”

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

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