flags

Noun

flag (countable and uncountable, plural flags)

1. (countable) A piece of cloth, often decorated with an emblem, used as a visual signal or symbol.
   • The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag. […] The new law also applies to acts of defilement besides burning, such as publicly ripping a flag up.2020 May 15, “Burning EU and other flags can now bring German jail term”, in BBC, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2025
2. The design that could be placed on a flag, typically a rectangular graphic that is used to represent an entity (like a country, organisation or group of people) or an idea.
   • The flag of France has three vertical stripes.
3. A flag flown by a ship to show the presence on board of the admiral; the admiral himself, or his flagship.
4. (attributive, often) A signal flag.
5. The use of a flag, especially to indicate the start of a race or other event.
6. A variable or memory location that stores a Boolean true-or-false, yes-or-no value, typically either recording the fact that a certain event has occurred or requesting that a certain optional action take place.

   Synonyms:

   Boolean

See all 42 meanings of flag