amok
Americannoun
adjective
idioms
noun
adverb
Etymology
Origin of amok
First recorded in 1865–70, amok is from the Malay word amuk
Explanation
You think Mittens the kitten is gentle and sweet, and then one day she runs amok, ripping up Grandma's favorite armchair until its cottony guts are hanging out. Time to take Mittens to get her claws trimmed. Most of our words are rooted in Greek, Latin, or German, so it's refreshing to see a word that arose in a whole different language: amok's origins are in the Malay language of Indonesia. In the 1500s, a Portuguese writer and explorer named Duarte Barbosa described a murderous tribe on the island of Java as the "Amuco," and the word passed on into English. Amuco came from Amuk, a Malay word meaning "attacking furiously."
Vocabulary lists containing amok
Stargirl
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"Simplexity," Vocabulary from the science writing
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The Joy Luck Club
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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.
Is it simply the fact that England, world champions and seven-time defending champions, are running amok and pushing up the average?
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026
They are almost always intense, with emotions on speed dial and hormones running amok.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
College sports may be amok but it still can dazzle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
Now, the rest of them are rejecting the nice guy while Rapaport continues to run amok.
From Salon • Jan. 15, 2026
The army was mutinous; the factory workers galled; inflation ran amok.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
