freakout

[ freek-out ]

nounAlso freak-out .

an act or instance of freaking out.
a person who freaks out.

verb phrasefreak out

[freek out]. /ˌfrik ˈaʊt/.

to lose or cause to lose emotional control from extreme excitement, shock, fear, joy, despair, etc.: Seeing the dead body completely freaked him out.
to enter into or cause a period of irrational behavior or emotional instability, especially under the influence of a drug: to be freaked out on LSD.

Origin of freakout

First recorded in 1965–70; noun use of verb phrase freak out (in the sense “to lose one's emotional control”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use freakout in a sentence

They had a freak-out moment and destroyed some source material.
Laura Poitras on Snowden's Unrevealed Secrets | Marlow Stern | December 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And in a culture as paranoid as ours, we freak out about them all the time.
Valerie Jarrett, Obama Consigliere—and Democracy Killer | James Poulos | November 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
They know enough not to totally freak out, but they know enough to be concerned, too.
Dallas: A Journal of the Plague City | Pete Freedman | October 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Just the other day, the employee watched another mother freak out after her daughter licked some of the buttons in an elevator.
Dallas: A Journal of the Plague City | Pete Freedman | October 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
If people are actually concerned about mamading increasing as a sexual practice, do not freak out about it.
The Internet’s Latest Pearl-Clutching Panic Over Mamading Is Insane | Emily Shire | July 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

Then he called to a cop who was just coming in: 'Say, O'Keefe, run that young fat freak out of here, will you?
The Haunted Pajamas | Francis Perry Elliott
Not a wooden freak out of Noah's ark, whittled out with a jack-knife, such as I had last year.
Old Crow | Alice Brown

British Dictionary definitions for freak out

freak out

verb(adverb)

informal to be or cause to be in a heightened emotional state, such as that of fear, anger, or excitement

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with freakout

freakout

Experience or cause to experience hallucinations, paranoia, or other frightening feelings as a result of taking a mind-altering drug. For example, They were freaking out on LSD or some other drug. [Slang; mid-1960s]

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