flash

/flæʃ/
/flæʃ/
IPA guide

Other forms: flashed; flashing; flashes; flashingly; flashly

Ever notice how quick the flash is on a camera? That's how fast other types of flashes are, including the super-fast superhero The Flash.

Whether you're talking about a flash of lighting or a flash of insight, a flash is quick and bright and sudden. There aren't any slow, long flashes. Because flashes are so fast, the word is often used for anything that happens really quickly: a flash is as fast as a New York minute, the blink of an eye, a heartbeat, an instant, a jiffy, or a split second.

Definitions of flash
  1. verb
    emit a brief burst of light
    “A shooting star flashed and was gone”
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    type of:
    appear
    come into sight or view
  2. verb
    gleam or glow intermittently
    “The lights were flashing”
    synonyms: blink, twinkle, wink, winkle
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    types:
    flick, flicker
    flash intermittently
    type of:
    radiate
    cause to be seen by emitting light as if in rays
  3. verb
    appear briefly
    “The headlines flashed on the screen”
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    type of:
    appear
    come into sight or view
  4. verb
    expose or show briefly
    “he flashed a $100 bill”
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    type of:
    show
    make visible or noticeable
  5. noun
    a sudden intense burst of radiant energy
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    types:
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    flicker, glint, spark
    a momentary flash of light
    gleam, gleaming, glimmer
    a flash of light (especially reflected light)
    coruscation, glitter, sparkle
    the occurrence of a small flash or spark
    heat flash
    a flash of intense heat (as released by an atomic explosion)
    lightning
    the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more
    streak
    a sudden flash (as of lightning)
    heat lightning
    bright flashes of light near the horizon without thunder (especially on hot evenings); usually attributed to distant lightning that is reflected by clouds
    sheet lighting
    lightning that appears as a broad sheet; due to reflections of more distant lightning and to diffusion by the clouds
    type of:
    happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent
    an event that happens
  6. noun
    a momentary brightness
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    type of:
    brightness
    the location of a visual perception along a continuum from black to white
  7. noun
    a lamp for providing momentary light to take a photograph
    synonyms: flash bulb, flash lamp, flashbulb, flashgun, photoflash
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    type of:
    lamp
    an artificial source of visible illumination
    photographic equipment
    equipment used by a photographer
  8. noun
    a burst of light used to communicate or illuminate
    synonyms: flare
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    types:
    star shell
    an artillery shell containing an illuminant
    Bengal light
    a steady bright blue light; formerly used as a signal but now a firework
    Very light, Very-light
    a colored flare fired from a Very pistol
    type of:
    visual signal
    a signal that involves visual communication
  9. noun
    a bright patch of color used for decoration or identification
    “red flashes adorned the airplane”
    “a flash sewn on his sleeve indicated the unit he belonged to”
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    type of:
    patch
    a piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a hole
  10. verb
    make known or cause to appear with great speed
    “The latest intelligence is flashed to all command posts”
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    type of:
    convey
    make known; pass on, of information
  11. verb
    run or move very quickly or hastily
    synonyms: dart, dash, scoot, scud, shoot
    buck, charge, shoot, shoot down, tear
    move quickly and violently
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    types:
    plunge
    dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity
    type of:
    belt along, bucket along, cannonball along, hasten, hie, hotfoot, pelt along, race, rush, rush along, speed, step on it
    move fast
  12. noun
    a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
    “if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash”
    synonyms: New York minute, blink of an eye, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink
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    type of:
    bit, minute, mo, moment, second
    an indefinitely short time
  13. noun
    a short vivid experience
    “a flash of emotion swept over him”
    synonyms: flashing
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    type of:
    experience
    an event as apprehended
  14. noun
    a sudden brilliant understanding
    “he had a flash of intuition”
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