Skip to main content
amok

amok

29 7.8
In a violent, wild way that is out of control
  • adjective
  • /əˈmɑk/
translation icon : desenfrenado
  • After the announcement, chaos erupted and the crowd went amok, spilling into the streets.
  • run amok
  • gone amok

And the little girl whose brain it is starts going amok.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • For a while, I watched the children running amok in the corridor.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Is this how you go through life, just running amok and trampling anyone in your path?

  • Fourth, this issue of costs gone amok demands even more attention than it already has received.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Wild animals running amok in suburban Virginia.

  • Mr. President, what you saw in there was nothing more than vanity run amok.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • A man's dignity is the one thing that holds him back from running amok.

  • With political correctness and secular progressives running amok, the world needs them now more than ever.

    Blog text (5)
  • See, I've got a feeling that there is a point of crisis in stable systems of magnetic fields, where small changes get magnified, and then all of a sudden everything goes amok.

  • The children ran amok in the park, shouting and playing without any supervision.

  • During the game, emotions ran amok as fans cheered and booed fiercely.

Synonyms

26 5.6

You cannot stop doing something because of strong feeling

adds violent frenzied action rather than just lack of control
maniacally
vsamok
8 7.9

In a very wild and excited way without control

focuses on violent uncontrolled behavior rather than obsessed excitement
rampantly
vsamok
1 7.0

Spreading quickly and without control

describes violent frenzied action not wide unchecked spread
amuck
vsamok
1 9.9

Acting wild and out of control, often hurting things or people

has identical meaning but is a variant spelling

Antonyms

735 1.0

Not showing strong feelings and being very still

Kept within limits by careful management

How Uncontrolled

berserk
1 7.2
frenzied
21 6.5
amok
29 7.8
agitated
49 4.1
restless
110 3.0
calm
735 1.0

Surface Forms

amok positive

Etymology

Amok comes from the Malay/Indonesian word amuk, which meant 'to attack violently' or rush at people in a wild way. Think of the English phrase 'run amok' — people running wildly and out of control — and that's why amok means behaving in a frenzied, uncontrolled, or violent way.