| 1. | the symbol or banner of a left-wing revolutionary party. |
| 2. | a danger signal. |
| 3. | something that provokes an angry or hostile reaction: The talk about raising taxes was a red flag to many voters. |
| 4. | Also called powder flag. Nautical. a red burgee, designating in the International Code of Signals the letter “B,” flown by itself to show that a vessel is carrying, loading, or discharging explosives or highly inflammable material. |
| 5. | (initial capital letters ) a war game the U.S. Air Force holds several times each year at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to train personnel in air combat. |
[red-flag] 
verb, -flagged, -flag⋅ging, adjective | 1. | to mark or draw attention to for a particular purpose: The department has red-flagged the most urgent repair work to be done. |
| 2. | to provoke the attention of; alert; arouse: The animal's refusal to eat red-flagged the keeper that something was wrong. |
| 3. | of or pertaining to a red flag. |
| 4. | intended or serving to emphasize, warn, incite, or provoke. |
| red flag n.
|
Red Flag
An indicator of potential problems with a security. Most often used to refer to a stock, a red flag can be any undesirable characteristic that stands out to an analyst. There is no universal way to determine a red flag the method used is specific to the investment methodology being employed.
Investopedia Commentary
A red flag is anything that marks a stock as undesirable. Because there are many different methods for picking stocks, there are many different types of red flags. What is a red flag for one person might even be considered desirable by another. For example, low institutional ownership might be a positive for somebody looking for undiscovered companies, but a negative for a pension fund that searches out blue chips.
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See also: Analyst, Defined-Benefit Plan, Downgrade, Hold, Kicking The Tires, Stock, Upgrade