flushing

IPA/flʌʃ/
KK[flˈʌʃɪŋ]IPA/flʌʃ/

flushing — verb

  • flushingpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • flushings3rd person singular
  • flushinging-ing form
  • flushingedpast simple

1. When your face becomes red because you feel embarrassed, hot, or have had too mu

1.verbintransitiveB1
Definition

When your face becomes red because you feel embarrassed, hot, or have had too much alcohol to drink.

Example

Saira flushed with embarrassment when she spilled coffee on the manager's desk.

flush with embarrassment

Anjali's cheeks flushed bright red after she ran up three flights of stairs.

Common collocations
  • flush with embarrassment
  • flush with anger
  • cheeks flush
  • face flushes
  • flush red
Synonyms
  • blush

    more specific — blushing is always from embarrassment or shyness, while flushing also covers heat and alcohol

  • redden

    more neutral and less common in everyday speech; can apply to any reddening of skin, not just the face

Antonyms
  • pale

    to become whiter or lighter in skin colour, often from fear or illness

Grammar Patterns

flush + (adverb of cause)

Usage Note

This sense is intransitive only — you flush, not 'flush something'. Common causes are shame, heat, exercise, or alcohol. The colour is most visible on light skin, but speakers use the verb for anyone whose face reddens due to blood flow.

Common Mistakes

She flushed the colour onto her face.
Her face flushed red.
'flush' in this sense is intransitive and does not take a direct object.

2. To make water flow through a toilet bowl, cleaning it and moving the waste away,

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

To make water flow through a toilet bowl, cleaning it and moving the waste away, or (of a toilet) to be cleaned in this way.

Example

Daniel flushed the toilet and then washed his hands at the sink.

flush the toilet — transitive use

The toilet in the apartment won't flush because the pipe is blocked.

toilet flushes — intransitive use

Common collocations
  • flush the toilet
  • toilet flushes
  • flush after using
  • remember to flush
  • flush properly
Synonyms
  • flush down

    phrasal verb emphasising disposal, e.g. 'flush down the toilet'

Grammar Patterns

flush + noun (the toilet)

noun (toilet) + flushes

Usage Note

This sense works both ways: you flush a toilet (transitive) and a toilet flushes (intransitive). In everyday speech 'flush' alone often implies the toilet — 'Did you flush?' means 'Did you flush the toilet?'

Common Mistakes

I flushed the water.
I flushed the toilet.
The object is the toilet or the handle, not the water.

3. To drop something unwanted into the toilet bowl and push the handle so that flow

3.verbtransitiveA2
Definition

To drop something unwanted into the toilet bowl and push the handle so that flowing water takes it into the plumbing system.

Example

Shirin flushed the expired medicine down the toilet as the label instructed.

flush + object + down the toilet

The sign says never to flush wet wipes because they block the pipes.

Common collocations
  • flush down the toilet
  • flush down the drain
  • flush away
  • flush medicine
  • flush wipes
Synonyms
  • dispose of

    more general — can mean throwing away in any way, not just via the toilet

Grammar Patterns

flush + noun + down + the + toilet / drain

Usage Note

Unlike the general toilet sense (sense 2), this sense specifically focuses on disposing of an object via the toilet or drain. The object is the thing being thrown away, not the toilet itself.

Common Mistakes

I flushed the toilet with the letter.
I flushed the letter down the toilet.
The object of disposal goes between 'flush' and 'down the toilet'.

flushing — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

'Flush', 'blush', and 'redden' all describe the face becoming red, but they differ in cause and formality. 'Blush' is specifically for embarrassment or shyness — you blush when someone pays you a compliment. 'Flush' covers a wider range of triggers: heat, exercise, alcohol, and strong emotion. 'Redden' is more neutral and slightly more formal; it can describe any reddening of skin from any cause. In everyday conversation, 'flush' and 'blush' are the most natural choices. For example: 'She blushed when he complimented her dress' (embarrassment only), but 'His face flushed after running for the bus' (exercise, not embarrassment).

blush ↗redden ↗flush ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • flush with embarrassment
  • flush with anger
  • flush down the toilet
  • flush away

Prepositions

Etymology

Middle EnglishLatinDutchEnglish

The verb 'flush' meaning 'become red' likely comes from the Middle English 'fluschen' (to fly up suddenly), influenced by the idea of blood rushing to the face. The toilet and cleaning senses developed later in the 1800s from the general meaning 'to flow out suddenly' — which itself comes from the same root as 'flux' (Latin 'fluxus', meaning flow). The place name Flushing comes from the Dutch town Vlissingen, which English speakers adapted to Flushing.