amuck

(ə-mŭk') also a·mok (ə-mŭk', ə-mŏk')
adv.

1. In a frenzy to do violence or kill: rioters running amuck in the streets.
2. In or into a jumbled or confused state: The plans went amuck.
3. 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.

[Malay amok.]

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The word is normally used in the phrase to run amok/amuck, meaning 'to run about wildly in a violent rage', and is an extension of a particular meaning in Malay anthropology

(Edward now wore the manic look of some animal transferred into the wrong environment, as though he might run amok, or bite—Penelope Lively, 1990).

It also has figurative uses not involving physical action

(With Thatcher running amok through the welfare state, lobby groups are preoccupied defending what was once thought unassailable—New Scientist, 1991

It wasn't his fault that her feelings seemed to be running amok—E. Rees, 1992).

Occasional unidiomatic uses occur

(The place was amok with running kids with running noses—weblog, British English 2005 [Old English (up to 1150)C]).

The spelling amok, which is closer to the original Malay amoq meaning 'attacking in frenzy', is more common (five times more in the Old English (up to 1150)C) and is preferable.

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also amok

adjective

Out of control: runaway, uncontrolled. Idioms: out of hand, running wild. See control/uncontrol.

IN BRIEF: An episode of madness and violence.

We don't want everything to run amuck.

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For a list of words related to amok, see:

• Excessive, Mad, Insane, or Radical
• Insanity - amok: (adj) in a murderous frenzy; raging violently

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See words rhyming with "amok."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Amok.