run amok

Idioms  

1. Also,. Behave in a frenzied, out-of-control, or unrestrained manner. For example, I was afraid that if I left the toddler alone she would run amok and have a hard time calming down, or The weeds are running riot in the lawn, or The children were running wild in the playground. Amok comes from a Malay word for “frenzied” and was adopted into English, and at first spelled amuck, in the second half of the 1600s. Run riot dates from the early 1500s and derives from an earlier sense, that is, a hound's following an animal scent. Run wild alludes to an animal reverting to its natural, uncultivated state; its figurative use dates from the late 1700s.

---

Example Sentences

Now, the rest of them are rejecting the nice guy while Rapaport continues to run amok.

From Salon

Mr. Foster offers an entertaining and informative tour of the four groups while subjecting them all to the same criticism: They focus too much on the grandiose, fixating on flying cars, artificial intelligence run amok, global veganism and apocalyptic cyberterrorism.

From The Wall Street Journal

But Beijing also can’t afford to let AI run amok.

From The Wall Street Journal

Dramatic Competition include NB Mager’s “Run Amok,” about an inflammatory high school musical; Giselle Bonilla’s “The Musical,” about a romantic rivalry between a teacher and a principal, featuring Rob Lowe; and Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” about a Japanese ballroom-dancing scene.

From Los Angeles Times

Friedman is seeking to push them out of the case, alleging the firm had “run amok” and “dangled the prospect of lottery sized payouts” in front of clients without vetting them.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• defy
• overthrow
• renounce
• resist
• revolt
• secede
• take up arms