freak out

See also: freakout and freak-out

English

Etymology

From freak + out. 1960s countercultural slang, originally referring to a positive reaction or experience from the use of a psychotropic—usually hallucinogenic or psychedelic drug.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

freak out (plural freak outs)

1. (dated slang) A positive experience with LSD or another psychedelic drug.

   Antonyms: bummer, bum trip

Verb

freak out (third-person singular simple present freaks out, present participle freaking out, simple past and past participle freaked out)

1. (informal, intransitive) To react (or cause to react) with extreme anger or fear to something to the extent that one loses one's composure or behaves irrationally.

   Synonym: set one's hair on fire

   Antonym: bum out

   • 1991, Callie Khouri, Thelma & Louise:

     Jimmy'll come in off the road, you won't be there, he'll freak out and call you a hundred thousand times...

2. (informal, transitive) To scare or unnerve someone.
   • 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1]:

     Even the blithely unselfconscious Homer is more than a little freaked out by West’s private reverie, and encourages his spawn to move slowly away without making eye contact with the crazy man.

Translations

react with anger or fear

• Arabic: خرج عن طوره
• Catalan: ratllar-se
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發瘋／发疯 (zh) (fāfēng), 发疯 (zh) (fāfēng), 嚇壞／吓坏 (zh) (xiàhuài), 吓坏 (zh) (xiàhuài) (get very scared)

• Danish: flippe ud
• Dutch: doordraaien (nl)
• Esperanto: konsterniĝi
• Finnish: seota (fi), pimahtaa (fi), raivostua (fi)
• French: s’affoler (fr), disjoncter (fr) (colloquial), flipper (fr) (colloquial), paniquer (fr)
• German: ausflippen (de), durchdrehen (de), ausrasten (de)
• Hungarian: megőrül (hu), bedilizik (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: dare di matto, sclerare (it)
• Japanese: 腹が立つ (ja) (haragatatsu)
• Korean: 빡치다 (ppakchida), 지랄하다 (ko) (jiralhada)
• Portuguese: surtar (pt)
• Russian: выходи́ть из себя́ impf (vyxodítʹ iz sebjá), вы́йти из себя́ pf (výjti iz sebjá), обалдева́ть (ru) impf (obaldevátʹ), обалде́ть (ru) pf (obaldétʹ) (colloquial), офигева́ть (ru) impf (ofigevátʹ), офиге́ть (ru) pf (ofigétʹ) (colloquial), охуева́ть (ru) impf (oxujevátʹ), охуе́ть (ru) pf (oxujétʹ) (very vulgar)
• Spanish: rayarse (es), trastornarse (es)
• Turkish: çıldırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: виходити з себе (vyxodyty z sebe)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

scare someone

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚇／吓 (zh), 吓 (zh) (xià), 嚇唬／吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 嚇死／吓死 (xiàsǐ), 吓死 (xiàsǐ)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: konsterni (eo)
• Finnish: pelottaa (fi)
• French: faire flipper (colloquial), faire paniquer
• Italian: intimorire (it), spaventare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 怖がらせる (kowagaraseru)
• Korean: 겁주다 (geopjuda)
• Portuguese: amedrontar (pt), assustar (pt)
• Russian: пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), напуга́ть (ru) pf (napugátʹ), испуга́ть (ru) pf (ispugátʹ)
• Spanish: asustar (es)
• Ukrainian: лякати impf (ljakaty)