in a flash

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Prepositional phrase

in a flash

1. (idiomatic) Instantaneously; very quickly; in almost no time.

   Synonyms: fulgurant, fast as lightning, lightning fast, lightning-quick, quick as a flash, quick as a flash, lightning fast

   It happened so fast that it was all over in a flash.

   • 1987, “Sri Ramanasramam Charities”, in Mountain Path‎^[1], volume 24, page 152:

     Therefore its completeness, though instantaneous, was total. His realisation was in a flash, but it did not vanish like a flash.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “I bet you want to come and live here in this big house in the lap of luxury with me and Biggie, don’t you?”
     “NO,” replied the boy in a flash.

Translations

very quickly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瞬間／瞬间 (zh) (shùnjiān)

• Finnish: silmänräpäyksessä
• German: blitzartig (de), im Nu (de), blitzschnell (de)
• Greek: αστραπιαία (el) (astrapiaía)
• Italian: in un baleno (it), in un lampo
• Polish: w lot
• Portuguese: rapidamente (pt)
• Spanish: en un segundo, en un santiamén (es)