Standard Lemma guide

freak

adj · noun · verb · 20 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • frēk
  • /fɹiːk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːk
  • homophone: phreak
  • CMU ARPABET: F R IY1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Strange, weird, unexpected.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • a freak genius
  • freak accident

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: freakish, aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous, as queer as Dick's hatband, bizarre, booky, curious, deviant, discrepant, eerie, eldritch, errant, exceptional, extraordinary, fey, forby, freak, freaky, fremd, funny, heteroclite, hinky, incongruous, incongruitous, irregular, kooky, monstrous, nonstandard, odd, outlandish, out of the ordinary, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queer as a clockwork orange, queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill, queer as a coot, queer as Dick's hatband, rare, rum, rummy, selcouth, seld, singular, strange, trippy, uncanny, uncommon, uncouth, unconventional, unearthly, unexpected, unreasonable, unusual, unwonted, weird, weirdsome, yampy, charmed, fortuitous, fortunate, happy, lucky, providential, serendipitous, sonsy

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Someone or something that is markedly unusual or unpredictable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: dated outside certain expressions

Examples

  • The two-headed calf was a freak.
  • freak of nature, freak of the weather, freak of the imagination

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: anomaly, outlier, aberrant, abnormality, deviance, deviant, farlie, freak, irregularity, odd fish, oddity, peculiarity, queerness, rarity, rum, strange fish, strangeness, unusualness, weirdness

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A person who is extremely abnormal in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices; an oddball, a unique person, originally in a displeasing or alienating way.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: odd duck, weirdo, bizarro, coot, crackpot, crank, eccentric, freak, glaik, hard case, kook, live one, nutbag, nutbar, nutcase, nutter, oddball, oddity, odd bod, odd fish, queerdo, queer fish, rum, strange bird, strange fish, strangeling, wack, wacko, weirdie, weirdling, wild man, wingnut, free spirit, heteroclite, deviant, deviate, individualist, maverick, misfit, nonconformist, offbeat

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A person who is extremely abnormal in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices; an oddball, a unique person, originally in a displeasing or alienating way.

A hippie.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: odd duck, weirdo, bizarro, coot, crackpot, crank, eccentric, freak, glaik, hard case, kook, live one, nutbag, nutbar, nutcase, nutter, oddball, oddity, odd bod, odd fish, queerdo, queer fish, rum, strange bird, strange fish, strangeling, wack, wacko, weirdie, weirdling, wild man, wingnut, free spirit, heteroclite, deviant, deviate, individualist, maverick, misfit, nonconformist, offbeat, longhair, tree hugger

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A person who is extremely abnormal in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices; an oddball, a unique person, originally in a displeasing or alienating way.

A drug addict.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: odd duck, weirdo, bizarro, coot, crackpot, crank, eccentric, freak, glaik, hard case, kook, live one, nutbag, nutbar, nutcase, nutter, oddball, oddity, odd bod, odd fish, queerdo, queer fish, rum, strange bird, strange fish, strangeling, wack, wacko, weirdie, weirdling, wild man, wingnut, free spirit, heteroclite, deviant, deviate, individualist, maverick, misfit, nonconformist, offbeat, druggie, user, addict, abuser, fiend, slave, wastoid

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development; often a bodybuilder weighing more than 260 pounds (120 kg).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: bodybuilding, hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

An enthusiast, or person who has an obsession with, or extreme knowledge of, something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Bob's a real video-game freak. He owns every games console of the last ten years.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fanatic, geek, admirer, aficionado, buff, connoisseur, enthusiast, devotee, maniac, fan, fancier, fancy, fiend, freak, junkie, partisan, rooter, zealot

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A very sexually perverse individual.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: endearing, informal, sometimes

Examples

  • She's a freak in the sheets!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: horn dog, hypersexual, pervert, donjuanist, erotomaniac, freak, fuckster, hornball, ramp, sex addict

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A wild dance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: African-American Vernacular

Examples

  • Get your freak on.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A sudden change of mind.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: whim, vagary, caprice, fancy, boutade, capriccio, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fangle, figary, flisk, freak, kink, lark, maggot, megrim, spleen, toy, whim-wham, whimsy

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

A streak of colour; variegation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: superciliary, vein

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

Euphemistic form of fuck (“smallest amount of concern or consideration”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: euphemistic, form-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

noun

Meaning 13

A man, particularly a bold, strong, vigorous man.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

A fellow; a petulant young man.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, UK, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

verb

Meaning 15

To react extremely or irrationally, usually under distress or discomposure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

16

verb

Meaning 16

To be placed or place someone under the influence of a psychedelic drug, (especially) to experience reality withdrawal, or hallucinations (nightmarish), to behave irrational or unconventional due to drug use.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

17

verb

Meaning 17

To streak; to variegate

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

18

noun

Meaning 18

someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a golf addict
  • a car nut
  • a bodybuilding freak
  • a news junkie

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: addict, nut, junkie, junky

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: enthusiast, partisan, partizan

Narrower terms: gym rat

19

noun

Meaning 19

a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: monster, monstrosity, lusus naturae

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mutant, mutation, variation, sport

Narrower terms: leviathan

20

verb

Meaning 20

lose one's nerve

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • When he saw the accident, he freaked out

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: freak out, gross out

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: panic

History

Etymology

First appears c. 1567. The sense "sudden change of mind, a whim" is of uncertain origin. Probably from a dialectal word related to Middle English frekynge (“capricious behavior; whims”) and Middle English friken, frikien (“to move briskly or nimbly”), from Old English frīcian (“to leap, dance”), or Middle English frek (“insolent, daring”), from Old English frec (“desirous, greedy, eager, bold, daring”), from Proto-West Germanic *frek, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (“hard, efficient, greedy, bold, audacious”) (in which case, it would be related to the noun under Etymology 2). Compare Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous”). For the meaning development compare Russian заско́к (zaskók) akin to скок (skok), скака́ть (skakátʹ).

From Middle English freke, freike (“a bold man, warrior, man, creature”), from Old English freca (“a bold man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *frekô (“an active or eager man, warrior, wolf”), from *frekaz (“active, bold, desirous, greedy”), from Proto-Indo-European *pereg-, *spereg- (“to shrug, be quick, twitch, splash, blast”). Cognate with Old Norse freki (“greedy or avaricious one, a wolf”), Old High German freh (“eager”), German frech, Old English frēcne (“dangerous, daring, courageous, bold”).

Across languages

Translations

104 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: необикновен (neobiknoven) — strange, weird
  • Bulgarian: неестествен (neestestven) — strange, weird
  • Finnish: outo — strange, weird
  • Finnish: omituinen — strange, weird
  • Korean: 기괴한 (gigoehan) — strange, weird
  • Bulgarian: прищя́вка (prištjávka) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Bulgarian: капри́з (kapríz) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Czech: rozmar — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Czech: kapric — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Esperanto: ekŝanĝo — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Finnish: oikku — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Finnish: päähänpisto — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • French: caprice — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • German: Laune — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Ancient Greek: σχεδίασμα (skhedíasma) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Italian: capriccio — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Italian: sfizio — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Italian: ghiribizzo — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Macedonian: капри́ц (kapríc) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Macedonian: ќуд (ḱud) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Russian: причу́да (pričúda) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Russian: капри́з (kapríz) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Russian: чуда́чество (čudáčestvo) — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Spanish: capricho — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Spanish: antojo — sudden causeless change or turn of the mind
  • Bulgarian: чуда́к (čudák) — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Czech: podivín — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Czech: magor — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Czech: blázen — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Dutch: engerd — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Dutch: freak — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Esperanto: strangulo — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Esperanto: diviantulo — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • French: original — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • German: Freak — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • German: Spinner — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Italian: fricchettone — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Macedonian: чу́дак (čúdak) — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Russian: чуда́к (čudák) — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Russian: фрик (frik) — nonconformist, especially in appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人妖 (rényāo) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Chinese Mandarin: 怪物 (guàiwù) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Esperanto: strangulo — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Finnish: friikki — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Finnish: kummajainen — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Finnish: luonnonoikku — oddball, especially in physiology
  • French: monstre — oddball, especially in physiology
  • French: phénomène — oddball, especially in physiology
  • French: anormal — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Indonesian: miring — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Italian: abnorme — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Japanese: フリーク (furīku) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Japanese: 変人 (henjin) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Korean: 괴물 (goemul) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Korean: 괴짜 (goejja) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Macedonian: изрод (izrod) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Portuguese: aberração — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: уро́д (uród) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: уро́дина (uródina) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: уро́дец (uródec) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: фрик (frik) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: монстр (monstr) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Russian: чудо́вище (čudóvišče) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Ukrainian: дива́к (dyvák) — oddball, especially in physiology
  • Esperanto: misformulo — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • Esperanto: misiĝintulo — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • French: déforme — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • Italian: deforme — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • Italian: fenomeno — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • Italian: bizzarria — person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development
  • Czech: nadšenec — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Czech: fanda — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Czech: machr — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Dutch: fanaat — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Esperanto: sciulo — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Esperanto: fanatikulo — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Finnish: -friikki — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Finnish: intoilija — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • French: fanatique — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • French: fou — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • French: fana — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • French: mordu — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • German: Freak — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • German: Spinner — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Italian: maniaco — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Italian: fanatico — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Italian: patito — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Italian: entusiasta — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Macedonian: фанатик (fanatik) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: фана́тик (fanátik) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: чуда́к (čudák) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: фана́т (fanát) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: у́мник (úmnik) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: бота́ник (botánik) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: задро́т (zadrót) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Russian: фрик (frik) — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Spanish: friki — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Turkish: manyak — person who has an obsession or extreme knowledge of something
  • Czech: ujetej — very sexually perverse individual (friendly use)
  • Finnish: friikki — very sexually perverse individual (friendly use)
  • Bulgarian: изпъстрям (izpǎstrjam) — to streak; to variegate
  • Russian: чудить (čuditʹ) — to streak; to variegate
  • Russian: капризничать (kaprizničatʹ) — to streak; to variegate
  • Russian: дурачиться (duračitʹsja) — to streak; to variegate
Real reading context

freak in complete knowledge articles