funk

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"I've seen what the Grateful Dead have been doing with their archives, as well as bands like Pearl Jam, and I figured it was time to show the world what the funk is all about."

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun A state of cowardly fright; a panic.
  2. noun A state of severe depression.
  3. noun A cowardly, fearful person.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (18)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • "The word funk - I didn't know what that was," said Worrell. —  Aspen Times - Top Stories
  • It's energy in a gale of funk, and turned clean inside out. —  Planet Atheism
  • Looking more like the dominant player who prevailed here last year and not the one mired in a season-long funk, the 27-year-old Federer kept alive his hopes of a fifth straight Open title with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win.
  • Hall's energy snapped St. Teresa out of its initial funk, and he grabbed two huge offensive rebounds on one possession late in the fourth that allowed the Bulldogs to eat almost a minute off the clock.
  • Neophytes need to know that the Nigerian idea of funk is quite different from American funk. —  The Big Takeover
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This word has been looked up 191 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

reggae ·  jazz ·  indie ·  bluegrass ·  electro ·  salsa ·  pop ·  mcdermontt ·  hip-hop ·  ragtime ·  monahan ·  operatic

Used in the same contextWord Family

funk:   funks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (10)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Probably from obsolete Flemish fonck, disturbance, agitation.
  2. Back-formation from funky2.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (8)

  1. from M English funke, fonk, a spark (of fire), a spark or particle, = Middle Dutch voncke, Dutch vonk, a spark (Middle Dutch voncke, vonck-hout, touchwood), = Middle Low German vunke, Low German funke = Old High German funcho, Middle High German vunke (usually vanke), German funke = Danish funke (prob. from Low German), a spark; possibly connected with Gothic (Moesogothic) fōn (genitive fūnins), fire (see under fire). No obvious connection with funk or funk.
  2. Origin uncertain; no obvious connection with funk. Cf. Old French funkier, fungier, v., smoke, funkiere, French dial. funkière, n., smoke.
  3. from funk, n.
  4. English dial. and Scots; origin not certain; usually associated with funk, but the connection is not obvious. Prob. Old Low German; cf. Old Flemish fonck, a commotion, disturbance, agitation, tumult; in de-fonck zijn, be disturbed or agitated, be in agitation (Kilian).
  5. See funk, v.
  6. Cf. funk.
  7. = Old Danish funk, a blow, a stroke: see funk, v.
  8. See funk, v.; cf. funky.
 

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/fəŋk/
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