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

Etymology

Origin of white flag

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white flag

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

Wall Street’s last remaining Seagate bear waved the white flag on his Negative rating earlier this month.

From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026

“We do not like the risk reward that these situations offer, and therefore we put up the white flag and said, ‘we can’t compete in this segment right now,’” Jain said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

Redick waved the white flag by the middle of the third quarter after the starting unit let the deficit balloon to 25.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025

For old time’s sake pneumonia made a token appearance, beat its head against the brick wall that evidently lined Amarante’s lungs, then waved a white flag and retreated.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols