From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfreakfreak1 /friːk/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 ENTHUSIASTIC informal someone who is extremely interested in a particular subject so that other people think they are strange or unusual a fitness freak a religious freak a computer freak2 NORMALsomeone who is considered to be very strange because of the way they look, behave, or think SYN weirdo These glasses make me look like a freak. Women who studied engineering used to be considered freaks.3 → a control freak4 HB (also freak of nature)UNUSUAL something in nature that is very unusual Due to some freak of nature, it snowed in June.5 an unexpected and very unusual event By some freak of fate, he walked away from the crash completely unhurt. April’s sales figures were a freak.
Examples from the Corpus
freak• If people can't put you into a category, they tend to just think of you as a freak.• Jeez, they didn't have to put her in with a freak.• And Magruder really was a card-carrying bicycle freak who had even ridden his 10-speed to the White House every day.• The combine freaks pop up every year.• Her husband's a control freak - he won't let her leave the house without him.• Some bosses are control freaks, while others are too unclear about what they want and need from you.• Raw vegetables and nuts have always been a favourite with health-food freaks.• A brawler this is, an alley fighter, a hopped-up offensive gone freak.• There were no obvious freaks, transvestites, monsters or exotic creatures.• One Beatle's freak is reported to have paid $18,000 for Paul McCartney's birth certificate.• By some freak of the acoustics his name seemed to echo round and round the chamber.• The guy is probably just some freak who saw her on TV and decided he loves her.• What was I doing consorting with these freaks?fitness freak• Arkwright Myers, a fifty-year-old fitness freak, introduces himself as the owner.freakfreak2 ●○○ adjective [only before noun] DNUNUSUALunexpected and very unusual a freak result He was crushed to death in a freak accident.freak wind/wave/storm etc The men drowned when a freak wave sank their boat.► see thesaurus at unusualExamples from the Corpus
freak• Call it a freak accident and, hopefully, be done with it and race on.• In the same year, as the result of a freak accident in the Alps, Steve's friend Georges Bettembourg perished.• Two planes were lifted up and thrown across the tarmac by a freak gust of wind.• Thus although a marked increase is apparent in recent years it may prove to be due entirely to three freak movements.• Another bicycle, another freak pumpkin, this one weighing perhaps more than Lois.• We maintain more freak religions and cults than all the rest of the world combined.• A freak result - nerves - you must have written gibberish.• It turns the symphony into a freak show.• He broke his leg in a freak training accident.• A freak wave wrecked most of the seafront.freak result• It had been a good shot, an honest shot with a freak result.• A freak result - nerves - you must have written gibberish.freakfreak3 verb [intransitive] informal ANGRYFRIGHTENEDto become suddenly angry or afraid, especially so that you cannot control your behaviour SYN flip When Ben heard about the accident, he just freaked. → freak out→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
freak• This is serious shit, and it's no wonder some people are freaking out and saying reading will be it.• In movies you can stop the shooting for 10 minutes and not have everyone freak out.• They'd freak totally, if their boss went around in jeans.Origin freak1 (1500-1600) Perhaps from Old English frician “to dance” 