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# flashback

«flashback» in Mova's school dictionary: **a part of a story, film or play that goes back to show…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a flashback, flashbacks)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A flashback is a part of a story, film or play that goes back to show something that happened earlier. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#m1)

2) A flashback is a sudden, very clear memory of a past event, often a frightening one, that feels like it is happening again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

English lessons on narrative structure (flashbacks to give backstory), films and TV. Health: some people who lived through scary events have flashbacks and can get help. Phrases: in a flashback, flashback scene, have flashbacks.

### examples

- The film opens with a flashback to the hero's childhood. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x1)
- Write a flashback to show why the character is afraid of dogs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x2)
- In the flashback we learn the grandfather was a sailor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x3)
- The soldier had flashbacks of the war. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x4)
- Use the past perfect tense to start a flashback: «She had once lived by the sea.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x5)
- The wavy picture told us it was a flashback. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/#x6)

### note

Countable. A flashback breaks time order, so use clues (tense, «years before») for the reader. Opposite: flash-forward.

### In the corpora

- [Flashbacks are scary memories that come back suddenly; if fear does not fade after a scary event, talking to someone helps.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/6-bitten-lost-hurt-when-fear-stays-after-the-danger/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «flashback» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flashback/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.