flashbulb

noun

flash·​bulb ˈflash-ˌbəlb 

: an electric bulb that can be used only once to produce a brief and very bright flash for taking photographs

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Premieres are mythical things to most people, full of flashbulbs and red carpets and, to a writer, that rarest thing of all: acknowledgement. —Kevin Biegel, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 May 2023

There were other Hollywood emissaries and global cinema stars basking in the fading sunlight and flashbulbs. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 16 May 2023

Victoria Beckham fashioned herself in a glittery, sheer minidress that glowed in front of flashbulbs at the exclusive event. —Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 1 May 2023

The question lashes out, sharp as a flashbulb’s glare, in the electric Mosaic Theater Company production directed by Johanna Gruenhut. —Celia Wren, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2023

There are the ancient pines and manicured roses; the free-flowing Champagne; and, of course, the cliffside pool where 21st-century titans of film and fashion escape the flashbulbs of La Croisette during the Cannes film festival. —Celia Ellenberg, Vogue, 1 Apr. 2023

Franz Gertsch, a Swiss artist acclaimed as one of the masters of hyper-realistic painting whose work often evoked a flashbulb-like sharpness on subjects ranging from landscapes to punk rocker Patti Smith in the 1970s, died Dec. 21 at a hospital in Riggisberg, Switzerland. —Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2022

May, at first, is one of them, posing for (pre-smartphone) flashbulb photos and fully in tune with the theatrical self-invention that infuses the club. —Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2023

Some people believe that a flashbulb goes off, and memory is burned in forever. —cleveland, 26 Dec. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

flashbulb

noun

flash·​bulb -ˌbəlb 

: an electric bulb that produces a brief and very bright flash for taking photographs