Flashforward vs. Flashback — What's the Difference?

A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future.

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

(authorship) A dramatic device in which a future event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative.

The episode or scene depicted by means of this device.

To use this dramatic device.

(Psychiatry) A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience

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

A vivid memory that arises spontaneously or is provoked by an experience.

An experience that has characteristics of an earlier experience.

(authorship) A dramatic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative.

(psychology) A vivid mental image of a past trauma or other sensation that the trauma is happening in the present, especially one that recurs.

A similar recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug.

The condition of the flame propagating down the hose of an oxy-fuel welding system.

(databases) A query that operates against data from an earlier time, before it was changed.

(intransitive) To undergo a flashback; to experience a vivid mental image from the past.

A transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene; also, the scene thus introduced.

An unusually vivid recollection of a prior experience, often one that is traumatic, such as scenes from combat or a criminal assault, or induced by hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD; when accompanied by hallucinations it is called flashback hallucinosis.

A transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the story

An unexpected but vivid recurrence of a past experience (especially a recurrence of the effects of an hallucinogenic drug taken much earlier)