flash-forward
Americannoun
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a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which a future event or scene is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.
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an event or scene so inserted.
Etymology
Origin of flash-forward
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They suggest the actors will appear in a flash-forward sequence which features in the novel the new film's based on.
From BBC • Dec. 11, 2025
He's the only person she can really talk to, she says in the flash-forward when she's in her 20s and making major scientific breakthroughs.
From Salon • May 20, 2023
Are these unmotivated scenes a flash-forward to Vicky’s untroubled future?
From New York Times • Dec. 22, 2022
In between a flash-forward opening and the concluding crash of a Seattle-bound Amtrak, he constructs a clear-eyed account of some its passengers and their 19th century ancestors.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2022
There’s a flash-forward early on that indicates that we’ll be seeing more of the story at some point.
From The Verge • Sep. 23, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
