Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Variant of amuck.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- See amuck.
- Same as amuck (but a form nearer the original). See amuck.
- n. An affray in which one or more persons (Malays) run amuck. See the quotation.
- To run amuck (which see).
Wiktionary
- adv. Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous
- adv. In a frenzy of violence, or on a killing spree; berserk
- n. One who runs amok; in Malay and Moro/Philippine culture, one who attempts to kill many others, especially expecting that they will be killed themselves.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. in a murderous frenzy
- adj. frenzied as if possessed by a demon
- adv. wildly; without self-control
Etymologies
- From Dutch, from Malay amuk ("to go on a killing spree"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“As he ran on, crying out in his frenzy, "_Amok -- amok -- amok_! kill -- kill -- kill!" we saw some of the police dashing towards him with long poles, at the end of which was a fork of wood with iron spikes inside it.”
“With the economy in shambles, healthcare reform imploding and tax and spend Democrats running amok is the a newswothy story or just another cheesy photo-op for a pitiful president?”
“But Prince did say one big important thing: What Blackwater does when its contractors run amok is fire them.”
“Technology gone amok is one example of that (seen in 50's sci fi) - a robot that kills its creator certainly went beyond expectations.”
“Personally, my favorite story about PC zero-tolerance policies run amok is the girl that brought a tray of brownies to school on her birthday and ended up getting expelled because she brought a kitchen knife to cut them with.”
“Isn’t Bible Spice the one who supports racial profiling by saying, “political correctness run amok is going to destroy our country”?”
“And on the important issues of war and peace, protecting basic civil liberties, and challenging the crimes of a presidency run amok, that is what the Democratic Party's elected officials have done: nothing.”
““Rape awareness,” in these terms, becomes just another example of hysterical women run amok, which is an image that has often been used in the mainstream media and other places to discredit feminists, feminism and the gains they have made.”
“Is that the same story or just another example of corruption run amok aka Republican governance?”
“It is, I know, just my Catholic guilt running a bit amok, which is also why I refuse to lie and say I am going - well, um - strictly for professional reasons.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘amok’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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*CVk
...where C is any consonant and V is any vowel.
trek, flak, anorak, fartlek, lek, beatnik, realpolitik, amok, mukluk, Wordnik, springbok, kulak and 3 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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i heart words
autarkic, cline, aver, limn, gossamer, ochre, fulminate, twee, augur, mollify, maw, ecumenical and 113 more...
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Really Cool Four-Letter Words
I marvel at the amazing variety of four-letter words in the English language. And that's not even counting really common (to me) words like fuck.
ibis, pelf, sofa, iota, oboe, lava, icon, sped, puha, pulp, puma, kyat and 150 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
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tree's Words
aphasia, anhedonia, promontory, misandry, amanuensis, asymptote, penultimate, muslin, tundra, calico, kinaesthesia, rutabaga and 209 more...
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gerwitz's Words
erudite, autodidactic, callipygian, ouroboros, zounds, fie, wabi, sabi, gedankenexperiment, zeitgeist, eliminativism, aether and 157 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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Words I will probably never use
décolleté, pendragon, amerce, viviparous, dragoon, brigand, outlaw, outlawry, lugubrious, boor, contretemps, decrepit and 151 more...
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vozcelik's Words
cranny, tummy, nook, sinister, cajole, frugal, chafe, wimp, booger, patriarchy, indifference, mire and 162 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for amok.
bilby Better spelled as amuk IMO. Amok is a mis-spelling even in Indonesian. There's an official language panel which has made a lot of rulings on standardisation of Bahasa Indonesia since independence. In many cases o lost out to u, as here, or for example datuk preferred to datok. Malaysia retains Dato because there it is a formal title. But Malaysia has 20 million people and Indonesia about 240 million, so in general Indonesian language policies are steamrolling through the region. Now amok is a loanword in English so it has no particular allegiance of faith to its origins. Certainly I have seen amok, but I have also seen amuk often in English texts. I'm not really a prescriptivist so you can make up your own minds. I feel uncomfortable writing amok because it neither looks nor sounds right to me. Dec 2, 2007
stpeter Frenzied. Not to be confused with amuck. Dec 9, 2006