freakout

[ freek-out ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an act or instance of freaking out.
a person who freaks out.

verb phrase

to lose or cause to lose emotional control from extreme excitement, shock, fear, joy, despair, etc.:
Seeing the dead body completely freaked him out.
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.

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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”

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

—The stock market freakout: It’s possible that Trump’s economic advisors, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and his political counselors finally got through to him that the market’s historically rapid plunge since April 2 would not be good for the economy or Republicans’ fortunes in the 2026 midterms.

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—The bond market freakout: More worrisome to financial observers was weird, counterintuitive activity in the treasury bond market.

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The Pennsylvania senator has said he's open to Trump’s expansionist plan to purchase Greenland, slamming colleagues for their “freakout” over the suggestion in a Fox News interview.

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Another parallel to today’s freakout about “wokeness”: None of these books seemed very interested in understanding “the politically correct.”

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Then there are the changes that feel closer to a Cronenbergian freakout: curiously dense new tufts of back hair, slightly sharper teeth, a body count of dead critters each morning on the doorstep.

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freak of nature freak out

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