freak

USFREEK/fɹik/

Verbfreaks, freaking, freaked

Noun pluralfreaks

15 meanings of freak

Practice

1
verbslangintransitive
To react in an extreme, panicky, or irrational way, from shock, distress, or the effects of a drug; also, to make someone react this way (often 'freak out', 'freak someone out').
My parents are going to freak when they see this report card.
She started freaking out when the elevator stopped between floors.
UsagePut a pronoun object before out: spiders freak me out (not ~~incorrect: freak out me~~).
Similarpanic, flip
Note
Out is optional: in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) an owner who finds beatniks in his place simply freaked, while the narrator of James Earl Hardy's B-Boy Blues (1994) was freaking out.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Tom Wolfe wrote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, first published in 1968. openlibrary.org
Wolfe's book describes an owner finding beatniks inside and reacting with the verb freaked, without out. en.wiktionary.org
James Earl Hardy wrote B-Boy Blues, first published in 1994. openlibrary.org
The first-person voice in Hardy's book uses freaking out. en.wiktionary.org
2
big fannouncountable
An enthusiast; a person who is obsessed with something or knows an extreme amount about it.
My uncle is a jazz freak with thousands of old records in his basement.
The forum is run by a few gadget freaks who test every new phone the week it comes out.
UsageUsually after another noun naming the interest: a jazz freak, a gadget freak, a fitness freak.
Similarfanatic, enthusiast, fan, buff, geek
Note
The enthusiast meaning, recorded earlier, took off in late-1960s slang. Fred Davis and Laura Munoz, writing on drug use in 1968, found that anyone hung up on an idea or activity might be called a freak, and soon college students used it for any kind of enthusiast, the sense that survives in a jazz freak or a gadget freak.
3
nounslangderogatorycountable
A person, animal, or thing that is very unusual or abnormal; of a person, often used insultingly.
Growing up in a small town, he was treated as a freak for his tattoos and piercings.
The downtown club welcomed the misfits and freaks that every other venue turned away.
UsageSaid about others it reads as hostile; the proud, reclaimed use is mostly for people describing themselves or their own group.
Similarweirdo, oddball, oddity
Note
This insult marks someone as an outsider, and it can wound, especially when it targets sexuality or gender. Some people turn it around with pride: Inga Muscio, writing in 2005, counts artists, revolutionaries, freaks, transfolks and queers as "my people".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Muscio's Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil was published in 2005. en.wikipedia.org
Muscio includes artists, revolutionaries, freaks, transfolks and queers among those she calls "my people". en.wiktionary.org
4
unexpectedadjective
Very strange and unexpected, unlike anything that normally happens or is normally found.
A freak deflection off a defender's knee gave the visitors the lead.
A freak wave swept two fishermen off the end of the pier.
UsageComes before a noun, with no very: a freak accident, a freak wave, a freak storm.
Similarbizarre, abnormal, freakish, freaky, extraordinary
Oppositenormal, ordinary, common, usual
Note
It often names a mishap nobody could plan for, such as a goal from a clearance that bounces in off an opposing player, though a freak genius shows it can describe a gift as well.
5
nouncolloquialendearingcountable
A person who is highly perverse in sexual matters.
You'd never guess it from the cardigans, but she's a freak in bed.
His girlfriend joked to her friends that he was a real freak behind closed doors.
Similarpervert
Oppositeprude

Less common meanings

6
hippienouncountable
A hippie, especially a long-haired member of the counterculture.
That summer the neighborhood filled up with freaks in beads and bell-bottoms.
He was a real freak back then, with hair to his waist and a van painted with flowers.
Similarlonghair
Note
The counterculture got this name from its critics. As young hippies with long hair and striking clothes gathered in Haight-Ashbury in the mid-1960s, outsiders quickly labeled them freaks, and meant it as an insult. Paul A. Eschholz told the story in American Speech, in an issue dated 1969 that came out in 1973, by which time freak had begun to breed compounds of its own.
7
addictnouncountable
A person who is addicted to drugs.
He had been a speed freak for most of a decade before he finally got clean.
Years of meth had turned him into a speed freak who could barely sleep.
UsageUsually after the name of the drug: a speed freak.
Similaraddict, user, druggie, abuser, fiend
Note
Smith and Sturges's 1969 study of the San Francisco drug scene defined freak as anyone addicted to drugs, without naming a particular drug.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Smith and Sturges published their study of the San Francisco drug scene in 1969. newportacademy.com
Their definition covered anyone addicted to drugs without specifying a particular drug. en.wiktionary.org
8
nouncolloquialeuphemistic
Euphemistic form of fuck, in the sense of the smallest amount of concern or consideration.
Honestly, I don't give a freak what the neighbors think of my lawn.
He never gave a freak about anyone but himself, and everyone knew it.
UsageLives in the negative idiom not give a freak about someone or something: I don't give a freak.
Note
Swearing is defused here: the word keeps the shape of the stronger one it replaces and drops the sting, so it can be used where cursing would offend.
9
huge musclesnouncountable
A person whose muscles have developed far beyond normal limits, often a bodybuilder weighing more than 260 pounds (120 kilograms).
Weighing 290 pounds with almost no visible fat, he was a true freak.
Judges in the open division reward sheer mass, so the stage is crowded with freaks.
UsageOutside gym and contest talk, the same compliment can land as an insult.
Similarmonster, beast
Note
Gym and contest talk turns the word into praise: calling a competitor a freak admires size and muscularity that seem beyond what a body should manage.
10
wild dancenoun
A wild, energetic dance.
Soon as the DJ played that song, everybody on the floor got their freak on.
The whole block came out for the party and did the freak until the sun came up.
UsageMostly in get your freak on, with a possessive that matches the subject: I got my freak on.
Note
African American Vernacular gave the dance floor this one, and it lives mostly in get your freak on, where the possessive follows the subject: I got my freak on, they got their freak on. The phrase means letting loose and dancing wildly, and the freak can also be done, as a named dance.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
The Freak is a named dance. freshairarchive.org
11
sudden ideanoundatedcountable
A sudden change of mind; a whim that comes without warning.
And then, with heart more hard than stone, He pick'd my marrow from the bone. To vex me more, he took a freak To slit my tongue and make me speak: But, that which wonderful appears, I speak to eyes, and not to ears.
1724, Jonathan Swift, On a Pen
Similarwhim, caprice, fancy, vagary, whimsy
Note
The word first appears around 1567, and this whim sense is of uncertain origin, probably from a dialect word related to Middle English frekynge, capricious behavior. People took a freak to do something: in Jonathan Swift's On a Pen (written about 1724) the pen complains that someone "took a freak" to slit its tongue, and Jane Austen's Emma (1815) speaks of the freaks and the fancies of a child. It is dated now.
12
streak of colornoundatedcountable
A streak of color, or a pattern of different colors running through a surface.
Similarvein
13
add streaksverbdatedtransitive
To mark with streaks or patches of different color.
Veins of white quartz freak the dark granite of the cliff.
Freakt with many a mingled hue.
a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”
Similarstreak, fleck, dapple, mottle, vein
Note
Poets used this verb for color laid through color. James Thomson's "Winter" in The Seasons writes freakt with many a mingled hue, with the old -t spelling of the past form, and Robert Bridges's The Testament of Beauty (1929) still has silver and mother-of-pearl freaking the intense azure.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
Poets used freak to mean marking something with contrasting colour. en.wiktionary.org
James Thomson's Winter in The Seasons contains the quoted words. en.wikisource.org
The quotation uses freakt as the past participle, with the historical -t spelling. en.wikisource.org
Robert Bridges wrote The Testament of Beauty, first published in 1929. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
The Testament of Beauty contains the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
14
nounarchaic
A man, especially one who is bold, strong, and vigorous.
15
noundialectalScotlandUK
A fellow, or more particularly a petulant young man.

Practice

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Origin

The word is first recorded around 1567, and the sense of a sudden change of mind or whim has an uncertain origin. Probably it comes from a dialect word connected with Middle English frekynge, meaning capricious behavior or whims, and with friken, a verb for moving briskly or nimbly that goes back to Old English frician ("to leap, dance"). It may instead come from Middle English frek, "insolent, daring," whose source is Old English frec ("greedy, eager, bold, daring"). Old High German freh ("eager") and Old English frēcne ("dangerous") are comparable.