What does "flash" mean?
A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.
Flash
/flæʃ/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.
- Grammar: flash is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: flare, instant, advertise, air.
- Useful contrasts: calmness, conceal, darken.
- Usage evidence: The flash of lightning precedes the sound of thunder.
How to use "flash"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "flash" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "flash" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "flash" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "flash" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "flash" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "flare" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "flash", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sudden, short, temporary burst of light. countable, uncountable
"Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century.""
- 2 A pool of water, in some areas especially one that is marshy, and/or one formed by subsidence of the ground due to mining. (Compare flush (“marsh; pool”).)
"their hearts lie lumpish as a Log that lies in a flash of water seven years together"
- 3 a lamp for providing momentary light to take a photograph wordnet
- 4 A very short amount of time. countable, uncountable
"[F]or Empire and Greatneſs it importeth moſt, that a Nation do profeſs Arms as their principal Honour, Study and Occupation: […] The Fabrick of the State of Sparta was wholly (though not wiſely) framed and compoſed to that Scope and End. The Perſians and Macedonians had it for a flaſh. The Galls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others had it for a time."
- 5 A reservoir and sluiceway beside a navigable stream, just above a shoal, so that the stream may pour in water as boats pass, and thus bear them over the shoal.
Show 28 more definitions
- 6 a bright patch of color used for decoration or identification wordnet
- 7 A flashlight; an electric torch. US, colloquial, countable, uncountable
"I reached a flash out of my car pocket and went down-grade and looked at the car."
- 8 a momentary brightness wordnet
- 9 A sudden and brilliant burst, as of genius or wit. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"[B]reath his faults ſo quaintly, / That they may ſeeme the taints of liberty; / The flaſh and out-breake of a fiery minde, / A ſauagenes in vnreclaim'd bloud of generall aſſault."
- 10 a sudden brilliant understanding wordnet
- 11 Pizzazz, razzle-dazzle. figuratively, uncountable
"Above all, they hate flash. Just as the English working class has always been, they are fiercely puritanical and abhor all forms of display."
- 12 a short news announcement concerning some on-going news story wordnet
- 13 Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould. countable, uncountable
- 14 a burst of light used to communicate or illuminate wordnet
- 15 The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders. British, Cockney, countable, uncountable
- 16 a gaudy outward display wordnet
- 17 A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once. countable, uncountable
- 18 a short vivid experience wordnet
- 19 A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class. countable, uncountable
- 20 a sudden intense burst of radiant energy wordnet
- 21 Clipping of camera flash (“a device used to produce a flash of artificial light to help illuminate a scene”). abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
- 22 a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat) wordnet
- 23 A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for colouring liquor to make it look stronger. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 24 A form of military insignia. countable, uncountable
"I just got my first commando flash."
- 25 Clipping of flash memory. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, uncountable
"The hybrid drive has 500 gigabytes of hard disk space for bulk storage and 2 gigabytes of high-speed flash for caching frequently-accessed files."
- 26 Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala. countable, uncountable
- 27 A tattoo flash (example design on paper to give an idea of a possible tattoo). countable, uncountable
- 28 The sudden sensation of being "high" after taking a recreational drug. countable, uncountable
"At three-thirty that afternoon Max, Tom, and Sharon placed tabs under their tongues and sat together in the living room to wait for the flash."
- 29 Synonym of flashback (“recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug”). countable, uncountable
"I'd heard about LSD and wanted to try it early on, but I'd also heard of delayed reactions, called acid flashes, brought on by unexpected stimuli; they could prove fatally disorienting."
- 30 A newsflash. countable, dated, uncountable
"The United Press got the flash "Germans declare martial law in Ruhr" […]"
- 31 A brief exposure or making visible (of a smile, badge, etc). countable, uncountable
"I didn't need them anymore. The police badge worked like a dream with both Alice and Kerry. One quick flash of the badge, and they were in the car and out of the rain. No questions asked."
- 32 The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public. countable, uncountable
"panty flash"
- 33 Ellipsis of hook flash. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To cause to shine briefly or intermittently. transitive
"He flashed the light at the water, trying to see what made the noise."
- 2 appear briefly wordnet
- 3 To blink; to shine or illuminate intermittently. intransitive
"The light flashed on and off."
- 4 emit a brief burst of light wordnet
- 5 To be visible briefly. intransitive
"The scenery flashed by quickly."
Show 25 more definitions
- 6 make known or cause to appear with great speed wordnet
- 7 To make visible briefly. transitive
"A number will be flashed on the screen."
- 8 protect by covering with a thin sheet of metal wordnet
- 9 To expose one's intimate body part or undergarment, often momentarily and unintentionally. (Contrast streak.) ambitransitive, informal
"She flashed a vocalist at a rock concert."
- 10 run or move very quickly or hastily wordnet
- 11 To break forth like a sudden flood of light; to show a momentary brilliance. figuratively
"For although party's worn-out moulds have been shivered, and names which have flashed and thundered as the watchwords of unnumbered struggles for power are now fast waning into history, it is too much to hope, perhaps to desire, until the education of mankind shall more nearly approach its completion, that strong differences of opinion and feeling should cease to agitate the scenes on which freemen are called to discharge political duties."
- 12 expose or show briefly wordnet
- 13 To flaunt; to display in a showy manner.
"He flashed a wad of hundred-dollar bills."
- 14 display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously wordnet
- 15 To communicate quickly.
"The news services flashed the news about the end of the war to all corners of the globe."
- 16 gleam or glow intermittently wordnet
- 17 To move, or cause to move, suddenly.
"Flash forward to the present day."
- 18 To telephone a person, only allowing the phone to ring once, in order to request a call back. transitive
"Susan flashed Jessica, and then Jessica called her back, because Susan didn't have enough credit on her phone to make the call."
- 19 To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.) intransitive
- 20 To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt. transitive
- 21 To write to the memory of (an updatable component such as a BIOS chip or games cartridge). transitive
"In order to flash a custom ROM to a phone, the boot loader must be unlocked first."
- 22 To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour. transitive
- 23 To expand (blown glass) into a disc. transitive
- 24 To send by some startling or sudden means. transitive
- 25 To burst out into violence. intransitive
- 26 To perform a flash.
- 27 To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
- 28 To trick up in a showy manner. obsolete, transitive
"Oft have I ſeaſoned ſavory periods / With ſugar'd words, to delude Guſtus' taſte, / And oft embelliſh'd my entreative phraſe, / Limning and flaſhing it with various dyes, / To draw proud Viſus to me by the eyes: […]"
- 29 To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash. obsolete, transitive
"The varlet ſaw, when to the flood he came, / How without ſtop or ſtay he fiercely lept, / And deep himſelfe beducked in the ſame, / That in the lake his loftie creſt was ſteept, / Ne of his ſafetie ſeemed care he kept, / But with his raging armes he rudely flaſhd / The waves about, and all his armour ſwept, / That all the bloud and filth away was waſht, / Yet ſtill he bet the water, and the billows daſht."
- 30 To flash back.
"Kevin, one of the first buddies in Boston lies calmly, very thin in the casket. I think of his face angrily making a point at a meeting or happily hosting his Christmas party. I flash to my father's wake and the "well-meaning" people who whispered about how awful he looked as I stood by watching, wanting to scream "What did you expect?""
Adjective
- 1 Expensive-looking and demanding attention; stylish; showy. Australia, British, New-Zealand, slang
"The barber man was small and flash, as barbers mostly are, He wore a strike-your-fancy sash, he smoked a huge cigar;"
- 2 Having plenty of ready money. UK
- 3 Liable to show off expensive possessions or money. UK
"Bit of a flash git, don't you think?"
- 4 Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously. US, slang
- 5 Relating to thieves and vagabonds. obsolete, slang
"the flash language: thieves' cant or slang"
Adjective
- 1 tastelessly showy wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A multimedia platform, most often used for adding animation and interactivity to webpages.
"Your Web site doesn't have to be full of the latest dropdowns, rollovers, superslick graphics, or Flash videos."
- 2 Any of various DC Comics superheroes who have the power of superspeed, derived from an energy called the Speed Force.
Example
"The flash of lightning precedes the sound of thunder."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "flash"?
Common synonyms include: flare, instant, advertise, air, antelope, arrow.
How do you use "flash" in a sentence?
The flash of lightning precedes the sound of thunder.
How do you pronounce "flash"?
Pronounced /flæʃ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
In some senses, from Middle English flasshen, a variant of flasken, flaskien (“to sprinkle, splash”), which was likely of imitative origin; in other senses probably of North Germanic origin akin to Swedish dialectal flasa (“to burn brightly, blaze”), related to flare. Compare also Icelandic flasa (“to rush, go hastily”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English flashe, flaske, also found as flosche and flushe (whence modern English flosh and flush), used in Middle and modern English for bodies of water with varying emphasis on them being "pools" or "marshes". It is not entirely clear whether these constitute a single term with varied spellings, or have distinct etymologies. The form flash, flashe is often suggested to be from Old French flache, French flaque, which is of Germanic origin, akin to Middle Dutch vlacke (“an estuary, flats with stagnant pools”). See flush for more on that form.
Etymology 3
From flash.