How do you use the word "freak" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "freak" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "freak": I hate those spiders. They're always there to freak me out when I'm cleaning. Do circuses still have freak shows?

Freak Meaning

/fɹiːk/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounSomeone or something that is markedly unusual or unpredictable.

nounA 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.

Sentence Examples

I hate those spiders. They're always there to freak me out when I'm cleaning.

Do circuses still have freak shows?

My mother would freak out if she knew about it.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

nut monster addict

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The doctor called the tumor a medical ____ because it was so rare.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The occurrence of a sudden blizzard in the middle of summer was considered a ____ weather event.

Word Origin & History

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).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[H]aving a dinner-party at his rooms to entertain some friends from London, nothing would satisfy Mr. Foker but painting Mr. Buck’s door vermilion, in which freak he was caught by the proctors …" — 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 19, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

"[A policeman] saw [Harriet Robinson] in a pair of corduroy trousers, an old gray jacket, and without a hat, singing an Irish song...when [he] asked her what she meant by it, she said that they were only having a lark, and that the clothes she had on belonged to her "old man."—A Mrs Scanlan, called for the defendant, described her freak as "a little bit of joviality."" — 1894 May 17, “A wife masquerading in male attire”, in Gloucestershire Echo, page 4; quoted in web video by J Draper, I Tried Riding A Penny Farthing (And It Taught Me About Feminism), 8 March 2026, at 18:42:

"And I may answer with another question. Why is a two-headed calf? And my own answer to this is that it is a freak." — 1907, Jack London, Before Adam, page 8:

"There may be good points about a freak reel, but because it is a freak it will stand little show of even a fair try-out" — 1920, Onnie Warren Smith, Casting tackle and methods, page 67:

"It is a freak that people talk about when they see it. Not everyone calls it by the right name, and few people know how it gets to be what it is. This freak is hail." — 1938, Marian E. Baer, The wonders of water:

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