flash mob
"flash-mob" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flash mob” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A group of people who rapidly assemble, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act, and then quickly disperse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-flash-mob · flash mob · English
flash mob · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | flash mob |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “flash mob” in English
Rare enough to double-check
flash mob is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A group of people who rapidly assemble, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act, and then quickly disperse.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for flash mob, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps from flash crowd, a term coined by Larry Niven in Flash Crowd (1973), a story about cheap teleportation in the future. The correct English form is flash mob, spelled F-L-A-S-H- -M-O-B.
Definition
- 1A group of people who rapidly assemble, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act, and then quickly disperse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how flash mob appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Called into being on short notice by Web sites and e-mail distribution lists, flash mobs meet at an appointed time, engage in some organized spontaneity for a few minutes, then rapidly disperse. The activities are innocent, if mysterious, and tend to bring together loose groupings of surprisingly conventional looking young adults.
Etymology
Perhaps from flash crowd, a term coined by Larry Niven in Flash Crowd (1973), a story about cheap teleportation in the future.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.