creature
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Existing since (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "LL." is not valid. See WT:LOL. creātūra, from creō.[1] Displaced native Old English gesceap (“creature”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: krē'chə, IPA(key): /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃə/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL. enPR: krē'chər, IPA(key): /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃəɹ/
Audio (US) (file) - enPR: krē.āʹtyo͝or, IPA(key): /kɹiːˈeɪtjʊə/ (archaic)
- Rhymes: -iːtʃə(ɹ)
Noun
creature (plural creatures)
- A living being; an animal or (sometimes derogatory) a human.
- He's a creature of habit. insects and other creatures
- 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.
- (now rare) 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.
- 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":
- A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
- 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.
- 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:
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
- creature comfort
- (from dialectal forms) critter, creetur, cratur, craythur
Related terms
Translations
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- Yiddish: (please verify) בריאה f (brie)
- (deprecated template usage)
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References
- ^ The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]
- “creature”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “creature”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Italian
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ure
Noun
creature f
Latin
Participle
(deprecated template usage) creātūre
Middle Dutch
Etymology
Noun
creature f
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
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old French criature, creature, from Latin creātūra; equivalent to createn + -ure.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /krɛːaːˈtiu̯r/, /krɛːaˈtiu̯r/, /krɛːaˈtuːr/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "reduced second syllable" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /krɛːˈtiu̯r/, /ˈkrɛːətiu̯r/, /ˈkrɛːtur/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "accented second syllable" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /krɛˈaːtiu̯r/, /ˈkraːtiu̯r/
Noun
creature (plural creatures)
- Something that has been created; an entity or object.
- A living being or creature; an animal or beast.
- A human being (often as a term of self-abasement).
- (rare) The whole world, the totality of existence.
- (rare) The process of making or creation.
Descendants
References
- “crēātūre (n.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-18.
Etymology 2
From Old French creator.
Noun
creature
- Alternative form of creatour
Old French
Etymology
(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Late Latin" is not valid. See WT:LOL. creātūra.
Noun
creature oblique singular, f (oblique plural creatures, nominative singular creature, nominative plural creatures)
Descendants
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English 3-syllable words
- Rhymes:English/iːtʃə(ɹ)
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with rare senses
- Rhymes:Italian/ure
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian noun plural forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin participle forms
- Middle Dutch terms borrowed from Latin
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Middle Dutch lemmas
- Middle Dutch nouns
- Middle Dutch feminine nouns
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English terms suffixed with -ure
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- enm:Animals
- enm:Nature
- enm:People
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns