red flag

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

a warning signal or indicator of a potential problem

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tín hiệu cảnh báo hoặc chỉ số của vấn đề tiềm ẩn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a red flag
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company's financial losses were a red flag for investors.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “red flag” mean?

a warning signal or indicator of a potential problem Literally: a red flag

Is “red flag” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.