# freak

Pronunciation: US say "FREEK" /fɹik/; UK

## Verb

1. 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'). *(slang)*
   - Simple: To suddenly get very upset, scared, or excited and lose control, or to make someone feel this way.
   - _My parents are going to freak when they see this report card._
   - _She started freaking out when the elevator stopped between floors._

## Noun

2. An enthusiast; a person who is obsessed with something or knows an extreme amount about it.
   - Simple: A person who is crazy about something, or who knows a huge 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._
3. A person, animal, or thing that is very unusual or abnormal; of a person, often used insultingly. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person or thing that is very strange or unusual. It can be rude when said about a person.
   - _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._
5. A person who is highly perverse in sexual matters. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A person who is very wild and strange about sex.
   - _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._
6. A hippie, especially a long-haired member of the counterculture.
   - Simple: A hippie, especially one with long hair and unusual clothes.
   - _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._
7. A person who is addicted to drugs.
   - Simple: A person who cannot stop taking 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._
8. Euphemistic form of fuck, in the sense of the smallest amount of concern or consideration. *(colloquial)* — Euphemistic form of fuck (“smallest amount of concern or consideration”).
   - Simple: A milder form of fuck. People say “not give a freak” when they do not care at all.
   - _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._
9. A person whose muscles have developed far beyond normal limits, often a bodybuilder weighing more than 260 pounds (120 kilograms).
   - Simple: A person with muscles much bigger than normal, often a bodybuilder who weighs over 260 pounds.
   - _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._
10. A wild, energetic dance.
   - Simple: A wild way of dancing.
   - _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._

## Adjective

4. Very strange and unexpected, unlike anything that normally happens or is normally found.
   - Simple: Very strange and not expected at all.
   - _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._

## Noun

11. A sudden change of mind; a whim that comes without warning. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A sudden idea or change of mind that comes for no clear reason.
12. A streak of color, or a pattern of different colors running through a surface. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A line or patch of a different color.

## Verb

13. To mark with streaks or patches of different color. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To mark something with lines of different colors.
   - _Veins of white quartz freak the dark granite of the cliff._
   - _The first frost had freaked the maple leaves with scarlet and gold._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A man, especially one who is bold, strong, and vigorous.
- (noun) A fellow, or more particularly a petulant young man.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/freak (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).