1
as in to bother
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
don't talk about death, as it totally freaks me out
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to lose it
to yield to mental or emotional stress
the landlady totally freaked out when she saw the dead body in the hall
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in meltdown
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of freak (out)
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2025
But that possibility is literally dynamited in a vision Daria has of the home abruptly blown to smithereens, the destruction replayed in slo-mo to the crashing squeals of early Pink Floyd, itself a collapse of psychedelic rock’s utopian ideals into acid-casualty freak-out.
—Jake Cole, IndieWire, 18 Aug. 2025
The dog remained unfazed during Fowler's minor freak-out.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 July 2025
Oasis’s last tour, in 2008, was riven by fights, freak-outs, and sibling rivalry.
—Air Mail, 7 June 2025
What follows is a melee of pratfalls and freak-outs, a guffaw-worthy display by such a fine group of actors.
—Nick Caruso, TVLine, 21 May 2025
Expect multiple scenes of the characters engaging in psychedelic frolics and freak-outs, some of which illustrate their backstories through sweaty, surreal vignettes.
—Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 19 May 2025
Every so often, the E.R. is visited by rats, little symbols of disrepair and instigators of slapstick freak-outs.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
No one is really disputing it, but the market freak-out hinges on the truthfulness of a single and relatively unknown company.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 28 Jan. 2025
Noun
Ever since Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl LX halftime headliner in September, there has been a far-right freak-out.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2025
But that possibility is literally dynamited in a vision Daria has of the home abruptly blown to smithereens, the destruction replayed in slo-mo to the crashing squeals of early Pink Floyd, itself a collapse of psychedelic rock’s utopian ideals into acid-casualty freak-out.
—Jake Cole, IndieWire, 18 Aug. 2025
The dog remained unfazed during Fowler's minor freak-out.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 July 2025
Oasis’s last tour, in 2008, was riven by fights, freak-outs, and sibling rivalry.
—Air Mail, 7 June 2025
What follows is a melee of pratfalls and freak-outs, a guffaw-worthy display by such a fine group of actors.
—Nick Caruso, TVLine, 21 May 2025
Expect multiple scenes of the characters engaging in psychedelic frolics and freak-outs, some of which illustrate their backstories through sweaty, surreal vignettes.
—Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 19 May 2025
Every so often, the E.R. is visited by rats, little symbols of disrepair and instigators of slapstick freak-outs.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
No one is really disputing it, but the market freak-out hinges on the truthfulness of a single and relatively unknown company.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 28 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for freak (out)
Verb
-
That’s what bothers me about it.—
Tom Tapp,
Deadline,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The 20-year-old didn’t bother inspecting it further, threw it in the gutter and went on with her day.—
Jordan Greene,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The outage landed at a sensitive time, just hours before Microsoft’s quarterly earnings release and barely a week after Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a similar meltdown that took down large swaths of the web.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Oct. 2025
-
The last image showed Mae having a meltdown because her balloon flew away.—
Kayla Grant,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
More broadly, the NBA has expressed concern about prop bets, while other sports leagues have worried about the potential for manipulation.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
-
After Trump spoke to Lurie, local leaders and advocates worried that Trump would shift his attention from San Francisco, which at one point hosted more billionaires than any other city, to less powerful and more diverse enclaves like Oakland and Alameda.—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Here was the first sign that Yorgos Lanthimos had cracked the code on Colin Farrell.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The earth stretched flat in every direction, almost to the horizon—a pale, cracked crust, vaguely lunar.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
That driving tension and anxiety are largely thanks to the team of artisans, which included composer Volker Bertelmann, editor Kirk Baxter and sound designer Paul Ottosson, who worked closely behind the scenes on their respective crafts to bring it together.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
25 Oct. 2025
-
That sense of anxiety is present throughout the book, most vividly in a wide shot of a group of cheerleaders rehearsing in a gym.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Next, a 10,000-pound concrete-and-steel battering ram was used to punch 24-foot holes through the ice, beginning at the far end of the whales' four-mile path to freedom, so as not to alarm them.—
Virginia Chamlee,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Kim has steered South Korea's northern neighbor closer to Russia and embarked on a large-scale military buildup that has alarmed Seoul and Tokyo.—
Ellie Cook,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The first of the films is Blue Moon, a sweet-and-sour portrait of the lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke) melting down at a bar near the tail end of his Broadway career.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
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Along with encouraging parishioners to pledge money, Cioffi asked them to donate their jewelry, to be melted down and fashioned into a crown to be affixed to a painting of the Virgin on the altarpiece.—
Susan Mulcahy,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The torrent of billion-dollar investment announcements related to artificial intelligence has raised fears that the economy is sitting on a bubble that, if popped, could send it into a tailspin.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Because if this tailspin continues, the offseason changes within the organization could be wide-reaching.—
Jeff Zrebiec,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Freak (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/freak%20%28out%29. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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