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flashback

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flash⋅back

  [flash-bak]
Use flashback in a Sentence
–noun
1. a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.
2. an event or scene so inserted.
3. Also called flashback hallucinosis. Psychiatry.
a. the spontaneous recurrence of visual hallucinations or other effects of a drug, as LSD, long after the use of the drug has been discontinued.
b. recurrent and abnormally vivid recollection of a traumatic experience, as a battle, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations.
Origin:
1910–15; 1965–70 for def. 3; n. use of v. phrase flash back
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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flash·back   (flāsh'bāk')   
n.  

    1. A literary or cinematic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological order of a narrative.

    2. The episode or scene depicted by means of this device.

  2. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use.

  3. Psychology A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience: "Another study shows that women who served in Vietnam still struggle with depression, anxiety, and painful flashbacks from the war" (New York Times).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
flashback

  1. n.
    a memory of the past; a portrayal of the past in a story. : Suddenly, Fred had a wonderful flashback to his childhood.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Medical Dictionary

flashback flash·back (flāsh'bāk')
n.

  1. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use.

  2. A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Encyclopedia

flashback

in motion pictures and literature, narrative technique of interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject events of earlier occurrence. The earlier events often take the form of reminiscence. The flashback technique is as old as Western literature. In the Odyssey, most of the adventures that befell Odysseus on his journey home from Troy are told in flashback by Odysseus when he is at the court of the Phaeacians.

Learn more about flashback with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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