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
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.