Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a frenzy to do violence or kill: rioters running amuck in the streets.
- adv. In or into a jumbled or confused state: The plans went amuck.
- adv. In or into an uncontrolled state or a state of extreme activity: "This jam-packed area of Honolulu has come to stand for tourist development run amok” ( Ila Stanger).
- adj. Crazed with murderous frenzy: amuck troops.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Literally, in a state of murderous frenzy; indiscriminately slaughtering or killing: a term used in the Eastern Archipelago. In English formerly as a noun, but now only as an adjective or quasi-adverb in the phrase to run amuck. Also written amock, amok.
- Hence — To proceed in a blind, headstrong manner, careless of consequences, which are most likely to be disastrous.
- [Sometimes written in two words, and treated as a noun with the indefinite article.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- In a frenzied and reckless manner.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. frenzied as if possessed by a demon
- adv. in a murderous frenzy
- adv. wildly; without self-control
Etymologies
- Malay amok. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I think they are counting on the press and the distracted public to see "partisanship" running amuck, which is how the Republicans have already positioned themselves for the '06 elections.”
“What "amuck" we've run since needs much more space than I have here.”
“I fancied for awhile that one of their number must have run "amuck," and the rest meant to send him to slumber.”
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) Letters from the Front
“The claims, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, allege that recent developments at News of the World in the U.K. demonstrate "a culture run amuck within News Corp. and a Board that provides no effective review or oversight.”
“He has run amuck, harassing Latinos while generating lawsuits, investigations, and the ire of the Hispanic community.”
The Huffington Post: Raul A. Reyes: "America's Toughest Sheriff" Is Not Above the Law
“I've half a mind to go back and run amuck, and settle for a few of them, the pigs!”
“All we can do is to guard the coast and keep them from breaking back on the plantation and running amuck.”
“Started amuck this morning, but didn't get very far.”
“Yes, even at 34 I like to run amuck naked …. in my apt.”
“Those analysts will be wrong, deregulation will find new friends in government, and the largest companies will continue to run amuck while the American people foot the bill.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘amuck’.
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When a door is ajar
Words with the prefix "a"
ajar, asleep, akin, ablaze, afoot, abed, aground, aback, afloat, alive, abaft, abloom and 91 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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DAY5_01/08/2013
kowtow, powwow, junta, imbroglio, juggernaut, schadenfreude, amuck, pariah, nabob, bwana, zeitgeist, sangfroid and 6 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1907 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 222 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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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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cxfx's list
callipygous, scaphism, ubermorgen, handschuhschneeba..., farctate, autohagiography, autolatry, spindrift, feculent, verisimilitude, brobdingnagian, ineluctable and 205 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
mulct, dupe, pittance, stipend, defray, cupidity, avarice, prodigal, profligate, affluent, insolvent, penurious and 533 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Moby-Dick
Interesting words and usages.
hypo, spile, hunks, grapnel, squitchy, skrimshander, monkey jacket, direful, grego, wrapall, dreadnaught, bosky and 158 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Vocabulary
My ever expanding vocabulary...
feuterer, abattoir, kibosh, sequin, shiftless, scrimshanker, sic, moniker, dogsbody, contranym, autoantonym, exhortation and 306 more...
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Words Words and more Words
ruckus, bustle, ominous, odious, abominable, atrocious, appal, abysmal, dismal, calamity, debacle, fiasco and 231 more...
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Magoosh
menace, injunction, juggernaut, refrain, mnemonic, abysmal, grueling, ace, gregarious, amiable, wacky, esoteric and 201 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for amuck.
johnmperry Seems exactly the same as amok to me Jul 25, 2008
yarb Citation on crescentic. Jul 25, 2008
jennarenn Mmmmmm, dictionary.com doesn't agree, and they know everything. ;) Feb 19, 2007
stpeter Getting stuck in the muck. Not to be confused with amok. Dec 9, 2006