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Glite Dictionary
flying colors

flying colors

20 3.2
A complete success showing that someone did very well
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : con gran éxito
  • You passed the test with flying colors, my dear.
  • passed with flying colors
  • test with flying colors

So yeah, I, I passed with flying colours.

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Examples

  • You passed with flying colors.

    The Hard Corps (2005)

  • You just passed the course with flying colors.

    License to Wed (2007)

  • So I passed with flying colors and here I am today.

  • So I passed with flying colors and here I am today.

  • And she passed the evaluation with flying colors!

    Abraham And Lincoln (2007)

  • Fortunately, Emma Joy passed with flying colors.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Now, you have graduated from kindergarten with flying colors.

    The Kremlin Letter (1970)

  • If Mbeki were to be rated on his performance on the international stage, he would pass with flying colors.

    Academic text (2006)

  • I had taken every test with flying colors, and I couldn't wait to hear what my crucial role would be in America's triumphant return to space.

  • After studying hard for weeks, I passed the final exam with flying colors.

Synonyms

with flying colors
vsflying colors
19 3.4

Someone does something very successfully

means the same but is a fixed idiomatic phrase
triumphantly
vsflying colors
15 4.1

With pride and happiness after a success

emphasizes success outcome rather than emotional celebration

Antonyms

failure
557 1.3

Not reaching what was planned or expected

defeat
275 2.5

A loss in a game, match, or election that means you do not win

How Successful

flying colors
  • Informal
20 3.2
triumph
262 3.3
success
∞ 1.0
failure
557 1.3

Surface Forms

flying colors singular
flying colour singular

Morphology

flying + colors

The sense 'with complete success' does not follow from the literal meanings of 'flying' (airborne/fast) and 'colors' (flags); it comes from the historical practice of 'flying the colours' to signal victory, a cultural-metaphorical extension that is not transparently composed. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words is unlikely to infer the idiomatic meaning without prior exposure, so the expression is opaque.

Etymology

The expression flying colors comes from ships at sea. One popular story says that when a ship won a battle it would return with its colors (flags) flying high so everyone could see the victory, and so today the phrase means 'complete success'.