Word.ws English Dictionary

freak show

freak show noun: an intentionally shocking exhibition of people with unusual characteristics, and which may include people who are gigantic, dwarfish, intersex, physically deformed or who have other extraordinary diseases, conditions and talents.

freak show: an intentionally shocking exhibition of people with unusual characteristics, and which may include...
Image: Jack Delano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

freak show (plural freak shows)

  1. An intentionally shocking exhibition of people with unusual characteristics, and which may include people who are gigantic, dwarfish, intersex, physically deformed or who have other extraordinary diseases, conditions and talents.
    • It only takes a little tweaking for the Simpsons’ home to become a full-on freak show, with Homer as its perpetually apoplectic main attraction.2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club
  2. (derogatory, slang) A freakish person, or a group thereof.
    • “Get out of here, you freak show,” Emmy said.2012, Kristen-Paige Madonia, Fingerprints of You
    • “KPop Demon Hunters” made me sigh with relief: Hybrids, mash-ups, whatever you want to call it, are no longer a freak show that can only be enjoyed ironically.2025 August 16, Euny Hong, “‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Is My Kind of Globalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Forms of freak show

pluralfreak shows
alternative formfreakshow

Questions about freak show

What does freak show mean?
Freak show means an intentionally shocking exhibition of people with unusual characteristics, and which may include people who are gigantic, dwarfish, intersex, physically deformed or who have other extraordinary diseases, conditions and talents.
What part of speech is freak show?
Freak show is a noun.
What is the plural of freak show?
The plural of freak show is freak shows.

Words near freak show in the dictionary

  1. freak of nature
  2. freak off
  3. freak offs
  4. freak out
  5. freak outs
  6. freak show
  7. freak shows
  8. freak wave
  9. freak waves
  10. freak-off
  11. freak-offs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: freak show (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-freak show.ogg.

Cite this entry: “freak show.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/freak_show. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.