Definition

1. Noun:
   • A historical banner: A red or orange-red flag used as a royal standard by early French kings, especially in battle.
   • An inspiring symbol: An ideal, principle, or symbol that serves as a rallying point or a source of inspiration in a struggle or cause.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Historical Banner):
  • The king's oriflamme was unfurled as the army prepared to charge.
  • The medieval tapestry depicted knights following the golden oriflamme into battle.
• Noun (Inspiring Symbol):
  • For the revolutionaries, the concept of liberty became their oriflamme.
  • Her speech served as an oriflamme, uniting the community behind a common goal.

Advanced Usage

• Used figuratively: The term is most commonly used in a figurative or literary sense to describe an abstract rallying symbol, rather than a literal flag.
  • The scientist's unwavering commitment to truth was the oriflamme for her entire research team.

Variants and Related Words

• Standard (n): A flag or other symbol serving as an emblem of a group or cause.
• Banner (n): A long strip of cloth bearing a slogan or design, carried in a demonstration or procession or hung in a public place.
• Ensign (n): A flag, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality.

Synonyms

• Emblem: A heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization, or family.
• Symbol: A mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process.
• Rallying point: A place, event, or person that attracts people with a shared interest or purpose and unites them in action.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• To serve as an oriflamme: To act as a powerful, inspiring symbol that motivates people.
  • His courage in the face of adversity served as an oriflamme for others.
• To raise the oriflamme: To present or champion an inspiring cause or ideal.
  • The new leader raised the oriflamme of social justice.

Noun

1. a red or orange-red flag used as a standard by early French kings
2. an inspiring symbol or ideal that serves as a rallying point in a struggle