freakout

[freek-out]

noun

1. an act or instance of freaking out.

2. a person who freaks out.

verb phrase

1. to lose or cause to lose emotional control from extreme excitement, shock, fear, joy, despair, etc..

   Seeing the dead body completely freaked him out.

2. 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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of freakout¹

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

Example Sentences

His college debt forgiveness plan, or flirtations with a minimum wage hike—both resulting in a wild-eyed freakout from conservatives and moderates alike—gestured toward a badly needed redefinition of Democratic politics.

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In the process, his tactics have sparked a rule change from FIDE, instant backlash to the change, and sent the chess world into a full-blown freakout.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine shows up as a random hippie girl looking for Dennis Hopper’s house at the start of “Freakout at the Mud Palace.”

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This followed a similar freakout during Mardi Gras last year, when X users melted down over a video of a group of college-aged girls dancing to hip-hop at a gas station in Louisiana.

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Indeed, it’s more judicious in tone, and far more fair-minded, than most of the Zohran freakout among centrist Democrats and mainstream U.S. media pundits, let alone the virulent racism and Islamophobia of Republicans.

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