"wave the white flag" meaning in English

See wave the white flag in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-wave the white flag.ogg [Australia] Forms: waves the white flag [present, singular, third-person], waving the white flag [participle, present], waved the white flag [participle, past], waved the white flag [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*|head=wave the white flag}} wave the white flag (third-person singular simple present waves the white flag, present participle waving the white flag, simple past and past participle waved the white flag)
  1. (in military combat) To indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering. Synonyms ((military) indicate that one is surrendering): capitulate Translations (indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering): 舉白旗 (Chinese Mandarin), 举白旗 (jǔ báiqí) (Chinese Mandarin), antautua (Finnish), heiluttaa valkoista lippua (Finnish), капитули́ровать (kapitulírovatʹ) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-wave_the_white_flag-en-verb-p80E1b9X Categories (other): English entries with language name categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 54 46 Disambiguation of '(military) indicate that one is surrendering': 90 10 Disambiguation of 'indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering': 96 4
  2. (figurative) To yield, give up, or quit. Tags: figuratively Categories (topical): War Synonyms: raise the white flag, hoist the white flag, show the white flag Synonyms ((figurative) yield, give up, or quit): capitulate Related terms: strike one's flag Translations (to yield, give up, or quit): antautua (Finnish), heiluttaa valkoista lippua (Finnish), сдава́ться (sdavátʹsja) (Russian), отступа́ть (otstupátʹ) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-wave_the_white_flag-en-verb--6fnxOLC Disambiguation of War: 35 65 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 40 60 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 54 46 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 37 63 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 41 59 Disambiguation of '(figurative) yield, give up, or quit': 7 93 Disambiguation of 'to yield, give up, or quit': 2 98

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for wave the white flag meaning in English (5.9kB)

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  "forms": [
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      "form": "waves the white flag",
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        "present",
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    {
      "form": "waved the white flag",
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      "name": "en-verb"
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          "_dis": "54 46",
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          "ref": "1900, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 30, in The Great Boer War",
          "text": "Then it was seen how perilous was the situation of the Boer snipers. . . . There was no escape for them save across the open. It says much for their courage that they took that perilous choice rather than wave the white flag, which would have ensured their safety.",
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        "To indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering."
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      "id": "en-wave_the_white_flag-en-verb-p80E1b9X",
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        "(in military combat) To indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering."
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        "in military combat"
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        {
          "_dis1": "90 10",
          "sense": "(military) indicate that one is surrendering",
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        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
          "word": "舉白旗"
        },
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          "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
          "word": "举白旗"
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          "code": "fi",
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          "word": "heiluttaa valkoista lippua"
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        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "ru",
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          "roman": "kapitulírovatʹ",
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          "word": "капитули́ровать"
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          "_dis": "41 59",
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          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "War",
          "orig": "en:War",
          "parents": [
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          "ref": "1911, O Henry, “The Day We Celebrate”, in Sixes and Sevens",
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1951 May 21, “The Press: Fog Cutter”, in Time, retrieved 2014-04-25",
          "text": "Last week the Herald waved the white flag, editorialized: \"In view of the Professor's unfortunate exposé of Boston newspaper punditing, we have little alternative but to follow his advice.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 Feb. 24, \"Bobby Jindal After Meeting With Obama\" (video), New York Times (retrieved 25 April 2014)",
          "text": "The Louisiana governor accused the president of “waving the white flag” on the American economy."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To yield, give up, or quit."
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      "id": "en-wave_the_white_flag-en-verb--6fnxOLC",
      "links": [
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        "(figurative) To yield, give up, or quit."
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          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "sense": "(figurative) yield, give up, or quit",
          "word": "capitulate"
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        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "word": "raise the white flag"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "word": "hoist the white flag"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "word": "show the white flag"
        }
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          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
          "word": "antautua"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
          "word": "heiluttaa valkoista lippua"
        },
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "sdavátʹsja",
          "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
          "word": "сдава́ться"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otstupátʹ",
          "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
          "word": "отступа́ть"
        }
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/En-au-wave_the_white_flag.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
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    "en:War"
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      "form": "waves the white flag",
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      "word": "strike one's flag"
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          "ref": "1900, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 30, in The Great Boer War",
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          "type": "quotation"
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        "To indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering."
      ],
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        "(in military combat) To indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering."
      ],
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        "in military combat"
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
        "To yield, give up, or quit."
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          "yield",
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        "(figurative) To yield, give up, or quit."
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    {
      "sense": "(military) indicate that one is surrendering",
      "word": "capitulate"
    },
    {
      "sense": "(figurative) yield, give up, or quit",
      "word": "capitulate"
    },
    {
      "word": "raise the white flag"
    },
    {
      "word": "hoist the white flag"
    },
    {
      "word": "show the white flag"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
      "word": "舉白旗"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "jǔ báiqí",
      "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
      "word": "举白旗"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
      "word": "antautua"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
      "word": "heiluttaa valkoista lippua"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kapitulírovatʹ",
      "sense": "indicate to an opposing force that one is surrendering",
      "word": "капитули́ровать"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
      "word": "antautua"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
      "word": "heiluttaa valkoista lippua"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "sdavátʹsja",
      "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
      "word": "сдава́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otstupátʹ",
      "sense": "to yield, give up, or quit",
      "word": "отступа́ть"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wave the white flag"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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