freakout
freakout Lexical Profile
freakout Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A wildly irrational, panicked, or emotional reaction or outburst in response to a stressful or shocking situation.
"She had a minor freakout when she realized she had left her passport at home on the morning of the flight."
An intense, disorienting, or hallucinatory experience induced by psychedelic drugs.
"The concert documentary captured both the euphoria of the festival and the occasional drug-induced freakout among the crowd."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a noun, it is written either as a single word ('freakout') or hyphenated ('freak-out'), whereas the phrasal verb is always written as two separate words ('freak out').
• Rhymes for freakout
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the 1960s American counterculture from the phrasal verb 'freak out', originally referring to an intense psychedelic drug experience before broadening to any sudden emotional outburst.