freak show
Americannoun
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a display of people or animals with unusual or grotesque physical features, as at a circus or carnival sideshow.
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any ludicrous, bizarre, or dehumanizing occasion, function, performance, etc.; grotesque, circuslike event.
endless interviews and auditions that became a ridiculous freak show.
Etymology
Origin of freak show
First recorded in 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or is this really just a freak show?
From Slate ● May 7, 2026
In the clip below, he jokes about bringing misery to all of his sets whenever he possibly can, and that he's in the "freak show stage" of his career.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2023
On Maxwell's hundred: "That was crazy. A hundred-run partnership, I think we contributed equally... That was just a freak show, you've got no options as a bowler when someone is running as hot as that."
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2023
The movie asks us, what is the modern version of the freak show?
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
I paint a girl in a circus freak show with wide, stumpy legs and a face shaped like a perfect circle.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
