English, baby!

freaking out

Date: Dec 17 2003

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“I was so nervous and I didn’t want to leave my trailer because I was totally freaking out.”
- Jessica Alba, actress, talking about filming a seductive dance scene for the movie Honey. [South End Online]

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

feeling extremely surprised, amazed or confused; feeling very excited; feeling overwhelmed; feeling shocked; feeling scared; feeling a lot of fear

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

“Freaking out” is a flexible expression. You can use it in many different situations to express many different things. For example, you could be “freaking out” about something scary. Or you could “freak out” because you’re very happy about something. The best time to use “freaking out” is to describe an overwhelming feeling. It doesn’t matter if the feeling is happy, sad, funny or scary. If it’s a very strong feeling, then you could freak out about it.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””I was totally freaking out when I saw Anna Kournikova at the athletic club. She is so beautiful! I didn’t know what to do.”“

””Marie is freaking out about her wedding. She’s really worried about everything. She wants it all to be perfect, so she gets really upset whenever there is a small problem.”“

””OK mom – you have to promise that you won’t freak out when I tell you this. I’m really sorry about it. I broke your lamp. It was an accident. Please don’t be mad at me.”“

””Marty totally freaked out yesterday when he found out that he failed the math test. He studied really hard for that test. I feel sorry for him.”“

””I’m totally freaking out right now. I lost my mobile phone last night and I have no idea where it is. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I use it so much. I’m totally lost without it.”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

When you’re freaking out you are going crazy or mad because you are extremely frightened, nervous or anxious about something,
by Monika (Pszczyna, Poland)
to lose self confidence, to lose courage, to be nervous, to be afraid just like “I freaked out when I went on stage for the first time.”
by Narisa (Sukhothai, Thailand)
it means that she overreacted, her reaction was unusual, maybe cos something weird drove her crazy, or made her insane…
by spring (Odense, Denmark)
Well, to freak out means to start reacting strongly because of excitement and also fear which is almost all sudden.
by Ali (Tehran, Iran)
Freaking out means to totally lose control of oneself in difficult situations like when one has to appear for an important interview and so on. Freaking out with friends means to go out with friends and have fun. So basically I think it has two meanings depending upon the situation.
by Niha (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
“freaking out” means to become extremely excited, angry or worried.
by Dana (Dubai, UAE)
I guess “freaking out” means loss of sense of reality, maybe because the fear to face something important. Someone who is losing rationality. Sometimes hallucinating caused by drugs. In Brasil people use freaking out to say someone is having a “pitty”, a “chilique” or in other words a nervous fit.
by Sueli (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
If someone is freaking out, they are nervous, they are confused, frightened or worried about something that is happening.
by Cecile (Taipei, Taiwan)
confused, shocked, felt a lot of fear.
by Stacy (Athens, Greece)
It means you are so nervous about doing something,
by lizbeth (Puebla, Mexico)
freaking out means: scared & terrified.
by DeSiDeRaTa (Elfaiha, Kuwait)
to become very anxious, upset, or frightened
by Anna (Taipei, Taiwan)
it means to be scared about doing something, because probably you can do it wrong.
by paola (Pasto, Colombia)
i think freak out means so panic that think what to react
by IVY (Malaysia)
Freak out means you were scared by some horrible things or person.
by Emily (Qinhuangdao, China)
Terrified
by Ling
Scared!
by Bethania (Brazil)
totally lose urself, crazy
by siriporn (Bangkok, Thailand)
making me crazy
by eileen (Lima, Peru)
to go crazy
by Patricia (São Paulo, Brazil)
to lose one’s mind, shock or surprize, over excitement
by Asad (Karachi, Pakistan)
freaking out mean the one’s feeling of impatient expectation for something importance to him.
by Tian (XangTan city, China)
Freaking out here means to be enthusiastic, fanatic, addictive to something, losing emotional control. He was just freaking out after taking some drugs.
by Sherry (ShenZhen, China)
Freaking out means you are trembling, scare because of something or someone made you totaly afraid
by erwin novianto (Bandung, Indonesia)
Someone was induced by a wild delusion, or someone loses his nerve at an unacceptable incident.
by Shyra (Hubei, China)
“Freaking out” means being greatly excited or anxious and feel cut off from reality, esp. because of drugs.
by Lemon (Beijing, China)
to lose oneself in a certain kind of hallucinations, to forget the real situation
by LU (Shanghai, P.R.China)
That means something let someone be crazy.
by Hsin-Chung (Huwei, Taiwan)
Surprised
by Major (Dalian, China)
don’t know what to do
by ivy (Shenzhen, China)
it means mindless.
by jimmy (Shenzhen, China)
“freaking out”, I think, means eccentric, weird, strange to.
by Pink (Hanoi, Vietnam)
I guess it means lost in something very beautiful
by Gang (Shenzhen, China)