creature definition

English creature definition

Alternative forms

• creäture (archaic, chiefly literary and philosophy)
• creatur

Etymology

From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin creātūra, from creō.^[1] Displaced native Old English ġesċeaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: krē'chə, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃə/
• (General American) enPR: krē'chər, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃəɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (archaic) enPR: krē.āʹtyo͝or, IPA^(key): /kɹiːˈeɪtjʊə/
• Rhymes: -iːtʃə(ɹ)

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. A living being; an animal.

   insects and other creatures

   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?

2. (sometimes derogatory) A human.

   He's a creature of habit.

   • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

     According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

3. (now rare, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
   • 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":

     Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:

     the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎^[1]:

     She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.

4. A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

     "You know what I advise," said Mrs. Smith. "Ask Miss Dunstable to advance the money on the same security which the duke holds. She will be as safe then as he is now. And if you can arrange that, stand for the county against him; perhaps you may be beaten."
     "I shouldn't have a chance."
     "But it would show that you are not a creature in the duke's hands. That's my advice," said Mrs. Smith, with much spirit; […]

   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:

     they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.

Usage notes

• For an explanation of the specialised use of the alternative spelling creäture, see its entry's usage notes.
• Adjectives often applied to "creature": evil, living, little, mythical, poor, strange, beautiful, wild, rational, marine, social, legendary, good, mysterious, curious, magical, dangerous, mythological, bizarre, monstrous, unhappy, huge, lowly, ugly, happy, unique, odd, weird, demonic, divine, imaginary, hideous, fabulous, nocturnal, angelic, political.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:creature

Derived terms

• creatural
• creature comfort
• (from dialectal forms) critter, creetur, cratur, craythur

Related terms

Translations

References

• creature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• creature in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• ecarteur

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Italian creature definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kre.aˈtu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: cre‧a‧tù‧re

Noun

creature f

1. plural of creatura

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Latin creature definition

Participle

creātūre

1. vocative masculine singular of creātūrus

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Middle Dutch creature definition

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin creātūra.

Noun

creature f

1. creature, being

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: creatuur

Further reading

• “creature”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “creature”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

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Middle English creature definition

Etymology 1

From Old French criature, creature, from Latin creātūra; equivalent to createn +‎ -ure.

Alternative forms

• creatur, creatour, creatoure, creater, creture, crature, cryature, criature

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krɛːaːˈtiu̯r/, /krɛːaˈtiu̯r/, /krɛːaˈtuːr/
• (reduced second syllable) IPA^(key): /krɛːˈtiu̯r/, /ˈkrɛːətiu̯r/, /ˈkrɛːtur/
• (accented second syllable) IPA^(key): /krɛˈaːtiu̯r/, /ˈkraːtiu̯r/

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. Something that has been created; an entity or object.
2. A living being or creature; an animal or beast.
3. A human being (often as a term of self-abasement).
4. (rare) The whole world, the totality of existence.
5. (rare) The process of making or creation.

Descendants

• English: creature; critter; craytur
• Scots: creature, crayter

References

• “crēātūre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-18.

Etymology 2

Noun

creature

1. Alternative form of creatour

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Old French creature definition

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin creātūra.

Noun

creature f (oblique plural creatures, nominative singular creature, nominative plural creatures)

1. creature; being; entity

Descendants

• Middle English: creature
• French: créature