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amok

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a⋅mok

  [uh-muhk, uh-mok]
Use amok in a Sentence
–noun
1. (among members of certain Southeast Asian cultures) a psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.
–adjective
2. amuck.
—Idiom
3. run or go amok. amuck (def. 3).
Also, amuck.

Origin:
1865–70; < Malay amuk
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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a·mok   (ə-mŭk', ə-mŏk')   
adv.   & adj.
Variant of amuck.
a·muck   (ə-mŭk')   
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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

amok 
in phrase to run amok first recorded 1672, from Malay amuk "attacking furiously." Earlier the word was used as a noun or adj. meaning "a frenzied Malay," originally in the Port. form amouco or amuco.
"There are some of them [the Javanese] who ... go out into the streets, and kill as many persons as they meet. ... These are called Amuco." ["The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and Their Inhabitants," c.1516, Eng. transl.]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: amok
Pronunciation: &-'m&k, -'mäk
Variant: also amuck /-'m&k/
Function: noun
: an episode ofsudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding that has traditionally been regarded as occurring especially in Malaysian culture but is nowincreasingly viewed as psychopathological behavior occurring worldwide in numerous countries and cultures —amok also amuck adjective or adverb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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