flashforward
noun, verb
flashforward is a noun meaning “A dramatic device in which a future event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-L-A-S-H-F-O-R-W-A-R-D, and it appears about once in every 27 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of flashforward is flashforwards.
What does flashforward mean?
noun
- 1
A dramatic device in which a future event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative.
verb
- 1
To use this dramatic device.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of flashforward
- flashforwards plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- flash-forward
- flashforwarding participle, present
- flashforwarded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is flashforward?
Flashforward appears about once in every 27 million words in written English, the 157,761st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Flashforward in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense dramatic device:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | flashforward |
| German | Vorausblende |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does flashforward come from?
Blend of flashback + forward.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).