a red flag
/ə ˌred ˈflæɡ/NEUTRAL · B2
Meaning
a sign that something may be wrong or dangerous
Examples
- 1A landlord who won't show you the flat before you pay is a red flag.
- 2The missing reviews were a red flag, so we booked a different hotel.
- 3When the seller asked me to pay in cash before I'd seen the car, that was a red flag.
- 4Is it a red flag if a new friend never lets you meet their other friends?
- 5The sudden silence in the team chat was a red flag that something had gone wrong.
Grammar
Countable: a red flag, plural red flags. Often after be, see or raise.
More idioms about colours
All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →roll out the red carpetto welcome a guest in a very special waytickled pinkvery pleasedhave green fingersto be good at making plants growas white as a sheetvery pale because of shock, fear or illnesslike a red rag to a bullcertain to make someone very angrythrough rose-tinted glassesin a way that notices only the good side
English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
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