with flying colors

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To succeed or pass a test with great ease and excellence

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Đạt thành công hoặc vượt qua bài kiểm tra một cách dễ dàng và xuất sắc

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: with flying colors of a flag
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She passed the difficult exam with flying colors

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 “with flying colors” mean?

To succeed or pass a test with great ease and excellence Literally: with flying colors of a flag

Is “with flying colors” formal or informal?

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