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.

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Example Sentences

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

The poster child for vendor financing run amok was Lucent Technologies.

From The Wall Street Journal

Born Ella Yelich-O’Connor, Lorde broke out at age 16 with “Royals,” her stark and whispery debut single — “a speech barely scaffolded with melody,” she calls it now — about the illusory satisfactions of a consumer culture run amok.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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