flash back

verb

flashed back; flashing back; flashes back

intransitive verb

1

: to focus one's mind on or vividly remember a past time or incident

—usually used with to

flashed back to my childhood

2

: to employ a flashback (as in a film)

—usually used with to

Synonyms of flash back

• remember
• recall
• think (of)

Examples of flash back in a Sentence

the scent made me flash back to the days of my mother's home-cooked Sunday dinners

Recent Examples on the Web

In its sixth episode, the series flashes back to a Thanksgiving that the group of friends spent together during the COVID-19 quarantine. —Samantha Highfill, Entertainment Weekly, 29 May 2026

Whether the Michael sequel will come to fruition and cover any of this uncharted territory—or flash back to territory that was avoided in the first film, like the entirety of The Wiz—is heretofore unknown. —Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 12 May 2026

Prime Video has assembled the main new cast of We Were Liars Season 2, which flashes back to two and a half decades before the events in the first season. —Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 7 May 2026

Starting on pole for a rainy race in Miami flashes back to last year’s very rainy F1 Sprint race in Miami, Antonelli’s first F1 pole of any kind. —David J. Neal updated May 2, Miami Herald, 2 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1944, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for flash back

• aback
• attack
• backpack
• backtrack
• bareback
• blackjack
• brownback
• buyback
• callback
• cognac
• comeback
• cutback

Kids Definition

flashback

noun

flash·​back ˈflash-ˌbak 

1

: the introduction of a past event into a story or motion picture

also : this past event

2

: a past incident recurring clearly in the mind