Standard Lemma guide

flashy

adj · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • flăsh'ē
  • /ˈflæʃi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æʃi
  • CMU ARPABET: F L AE1 SH IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The dancers wore flashy costumes featuring shiny sequins in many vibrant colors.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: glossy, prominent, brash, pizazzy, attention-grabbing, conspicuous, eye-catching, flashy, grabby, high-profile, salient, bedizened, blatant, blingish, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, garish, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, kitschy, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pretentious, ritzy, raffish, schlocky, showy, snazzy, splendiferous, tacky, tasteless, tawdry, tinselly, too much, trinkety, unbecoming, untasteful, vain, whorish, zesty

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Marked by frequent variations in water amount (compare flash flood).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Flashing; producing flashes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, poetic

Examples

  • a flashy light

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blinking, fulgorous

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Drunk; tipsy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: buzzed, lit, squiffy, Adrian Quist, adrip, aled up, all mops and brooms, arseholed, a sheet in the wind, a sheet in the wind's eye, bedrunken, befuddled, beliquored, besotted, besotten, bevvied, bibacious, bibulous, binned, bingoed, bladdered, blasted, blewed, blind, blind drunk, blitzed, blocked, blootered, blottoed, blue, bollocksed, bombed, boozy, bosky, bottled, Brahms, Brahms and Liszt, budgy, bungalowed, bungfu, burlin', canned, clobbered, corned, cocked, cockeyed, crapulous, crocked, cunted, cup-shot, cup-shotten, cut, dead drunk, destroyed, disguised, drunk, drunk as a piper, drunked up, drunken, ebriated, ebriose, elephant's, elephant's trunk, elevated, faced, fap, fershnickered, flooey, floored, flush, flushed, flustered, fluted, fluthered, feeling no pain, fou, four sheets in the wind, fresh, fried, frosted, fuckered up, fuckfaced, fuddled, full, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, gassed, gattered, gee-eyed, gesuip, ginned, gished, glorious, groggified, groggy, half polluted, half cut, half lit, half seas over, hammered, have drink taken, have the sun in one's eyes, hazed, high as a Georgia pine, high as a kite, high, hog-whimpering, honkers, hooched up, hooted, hoovered, hosed, how came you so, impaired, in liquor, in one's altitudes, in one's cups, in the bag, in the drink, inebriate, inebriated, inebrious, insober, insobrietous, inter pocula, jaked, jarred, juiced, juiced up, kaylied, kettled, kisky, lamped, langered, langers, larruped, lash, lashed, lathered, legless, liquored up, liquory, loaded, looped, loopy, loose, lubed, lubed up, lubricated, lushed, mabok, mad with it, maggot, maggoted, mashed, maudlin, medicated, messed up, monged, mortal, mortalled, Mozart and Liszt, muddled, muggy, mullered, munted, muzzy, MWI, nappy, newted, nimptopsical, obfuscated, obliviated, off one's box, off one's head, off one's tits, oiled, oiled up, Oliver, Oliver Twist, on the ran tan, ossified, out of it, out of one's box, out of one's face, out of one's head, out of sight, overcome, overrefreshed, overtaken, paralytic, parlatic, pickled, pie-eyed, pixilated, plastered, ploughed, plowed, polluted, potshot, potted, pounded, primed, puggled, quisby, raddled, ratfaced, razzled, ripe, ripped, rolling, rubbered, sauced, sauced up, scammered, schloshed, schnockered, screwed, scuttered, sewed up, shedded, shellacked, shicker, shickered, shitty, skunked, slammed, slarmied, slizzard, sloppy drunk, sloshed, smashed, snockered, snookered, snozzled, snuffy, soaken, sodden, soshed, sotted, sottish, souped-up, soused, sozzled, sozzly, spanceled, spannered, spiffed, splashed, spongy, sprung, squiffed, steamboats, stewed, stinking, stinko, stoated, stoned, stonkered, stotious, strut, swacked, tanked, tanked up, temulent, temulentive, three sheets in the wind, three sheets to the wind, throwed, tight as a tick, tight, tilted, tippled, tipsy, tired and emotional, toasted, top-heavy, top-heavy with drink, toping, trashed, tuned, twatfaced, twisted, wastey, wazzed, wazzocked, well-oiled, wellied, wet, whittled, withered, wobbly, woozy, worse for liquor, worse for wear, wrecked, zoned, zonked, zooted, zorched, zotzed

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

(used especially of clothes) marked by conspicuous display

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gaudy, jazzy, showy, sporty

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

tastelessly showy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a flash car
  • a flashy ring
  • garish colors
  • a gaudy costume
  • loud sport shirts
  • a meretricious yet stylish book
  • tawdry ornaments

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brassy, cheap, flash, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English flash Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English flashy From flash + -y.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: flitsend — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Finnish: koreileva — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • French: tape-à-l’œil — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Galician: ostentoso — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Galician: rechamante — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Irish: péacach — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Macedonian: дре́члив (dréčliv) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Macedonian: впе́чатлив (vpéčatliv) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Macedonian: све́ткав (svétkav) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Macedonian: све́тол (svétol) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Macedonian: бле́скав (bléskav) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Māori: hahaki — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Persian: پرزرقوبرق (por-zarq-o-barq) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Russian: показно́й (pokaznój) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Russian: крича́щий (kričáščij) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Russian: броса́ющийся в глаза́ (brosájuščijsja v glazá) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Russian: крикли́вый (kriklívyj) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Russian: броский (broskij) — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Scots: fantoush — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Spanish: llamativo — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Spanish: ostentoso — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Spanish: chillón — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing
  • Spanish: vistoso — showy; visually impressive, attention-getting, or appealing