Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flashback |
FlashbackNoun1. A transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene. 2. An unexpected but vivid recurrence of a past experience (especially a recurrence of the effects of an hallucinogenic drug taken much earlier). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "flashback" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | A reversal of flame in a system, counter to the usual flow of the combustible mixture. (references) |
Electrical Engineering | A back-fire in an ionic valve. Source: European Union. (references) |
Fine Arts | A scene that interrupts the story to show something that has happened in the past. Source: European Union. (references) |
| An insert scene in a dramatic presentation showing an action or event supposed to have taken place in the past. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Medicine | Flashbacks are unexpectedly recurring episodes resembling experiences induced by LSD or other strong hallucinogens, but without the person actually having been re-exposed to the drug. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
As in film, a flashback in literature is a technique which takes the narrative back in time from the point the story has reached, to recount events that happened before. It was used extensively by author Ford Madox Ford.
A flashback can also occur in the mind, either voluntarily remembering a past experience, or involuntarily due to a disorder such as PTSD, or a hallucinogen such as LSD. Flashbacks are often reported years after a subject was exposed to the drug or trauma.
Flashback is also the name of a (highly) controversial Swedish media group (flashback.se, flashback.net, flashback.org) run by Jan Axelsson.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Flashback."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Memory | Reminiscence, recognition, recollection, rememoration; recurrence, flashback; retrospect, retrospection. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Flashback |
| Non-English Usage: "Flashback" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Italian (flashback), Portuguese (flashback). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Ah. Flashback humor (Fight Club; writing credit: Jim Uhls) Hold on, kindergarten flashback. (Friends; writing credit: Jörn O. Jensen; Birger Larsen) Whoa, whoa, prom night flashback. (Friends; writing credit: Jörn O. Jensen; Birger Larsen) | |
Lyrics | Flashback, '72 (AM Radio; performing artist: Everclear) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Flashback (1969) Tatort - Flashback (2002) VH1's 8-Track Flashback (1995) Flashback (1995) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Flashback" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 90.20% of the time. "Flashback" is used about 51 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 90.2% | 46 | 50,285 |
| Noun (proper) | 7.84% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Noun (common) | 1.96% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 51 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "flashback"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | ngjarje e shkuar, kthim mbrapa. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ретроспекция, ретроспективен кадър. (various references) | |
Chinese | 反燃. (various references) | |
Czech | zpìtný zábìr (flash back), retrospektiva (flash back, retrospect). (various references) | |
Danish | tilbagetaending (arc-back, back-fire), tilbagetænding (arc back, arc-back, backfire, back-fire), tilbageblik (flash-back), gentaending (arc-back, back-fire), gentænding (arc back, backfire), bagtænding (arc-back, back-fire). (various references) | |
Dutch | flash-back (flash-back), terugslag (arc back, arc-back, atavism, backfire, back-fire, bounce, choc en retour, flyback, kickback, rebound, rebound effect, relapse, retrace, throw back), boogterugslag (arc-back, back-fire). (various references) | |
Finnish | takautuma, takauma, purkauksen takaisinlyönti (arc back, arc-back, backfire, back-fire), liekin takaisinlyönti (arc back, arc-back, backfire, back-fire), ioniventtiilin takasyttyminen (arc-back, back-fire). (various references) | |
French | flashback, flash back (flash back, flash-back), retrospectif, retour en arrière (flash back), retour d'arc, retour arrière (flash-back), rétrospectif (flash-back), récurrence, arc en retour, allumage en retour, écho (flash-back phenomena, flash-backs). (various references) | |
German | rückblende (cutback). (various references) | |
Greek | αναδρομή στο παρελθόν (flash-back). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פלאשבק. (various references) | |
Hungarian | visszapillantás (retrospect, retrospection, review). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kilas-balik. (various references) | |
Italian | flashback (flash-back). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | フラクション活動 (flag, flannel, flap, flap pocket, flapper, flash, flashlight, flask, flat, flat collar, flat race, flush, fractal, fraction activity, fragment, fragmentation, frappe, fresco, frustration, hula dance, news flash). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | フラッシュバック . (various references) | |
Manx | aachentyn. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ashbackflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | flash-back (flash-back, flash-back phenomena, flash-backs, recurrence phenomena), flashback, clarão para traz, arco de retorno (arc-back, back-fire). (various references) | |
Romanian | privire retrospectivã. (various references) | |
Russian | короткая ретроспектива, взгляд в прошлое (hindsight). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | retrospekcija. (various references) | |
Spanish | flashback (flash-back), vuelta al pasado (flash-back), salto al pasado (flash-back), retrospectiva, retorno del arco (arc back, backfire), retorno de la llama (arc-back, back-fire), encendido de retroceso (arc-back, back-fire), destello de retorno (arc-back, back-fire), arco de retorno (arc-back, back-fire). (various references) | |
Swedish | tillbakablick (cutback), baktändning (backfire), återblick (retrospect). (various references) | |
Turkish | geriye dönüş (about face, about turn, countermarch), geçmişi gösteren sahne, geçmişe dönüş. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "flashback": flashbacks. (additional references) | |
| |
"Flashback" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: flasback. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "flashback" (pronounced fla"shba'k) |
| 3 | -b a' k | biofeedback, buyback, comeback, cornerback, cutback, drawback, fallback, feedback, fullback, giveback, greenback, halfback, hardback, hatchback, horseback, humpback, hunchback, kickback, leaseback, leatherback, outback, paperback, payback, piggyback, playback, pullback, quarterback, razorback, rollback, setback, throwback, wingback. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: halfbacks. | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-c-f-h-k-l-s" | |
-1 letter: backlash, halfback. | |
-3 letters: blacks, cabals, calash, casbah, chalks, flacks, kasbah. | |
-4 letters: aback, abash, alack, albas, alfas, baals, backs, balas, balks, balsa, basal, black, blahs, cabal, calfs, calks, chalk, clash, flabs, flack, flash, flask, haafs, hacks, kasha, khafs, lacks, lakhs, shack, slack. | |
-5 letters: aahs, aals, abas, alas, alba, albs, alfa, baal, baas, bach, back, balk. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-b-c-f-h-k-l-s" | |
+1 letter: flashbacks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
