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)

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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 with extreme anger or fear, to the extent that one loses one's composure or behaves irrationally.

   Synonyms: set one's hair on fire, flip out

   Antonym: bum out

   When Peter saw the nail poking up through his foot, he freaked out and started hyperventilating.

   • 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.

   Don't take off your shirt when working behind the counter. You'll freak the customers out.

   • 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.

3. (informal, intransitive) To adopt an unconventional (especially countercultural) persona or appearance.
   • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 213:

     Formed in the heart of the British Invasion in 1964 as the Nevadas, the Jacks decided to freak out and grow their hair long.

Descendants

• >? Portuguese: fricote

Translations

react with anger or fear

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

  Mandarin: 發瘋／发疯 (zh) (fāfēng), 嚇壞／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)
• 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: hoảng loạn

scare someone

• Chinese:

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