creak
Americanverb (used without object)
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to make a sharp, harsh, grating, or squeaking sound.
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to move with creaking.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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to make or cause to make a harsh squeaking sound
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(intr) to make such sounds while moving
the old car creaked along
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has creakedperfect 3rd person singular
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have creakedperfect
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is creakingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been creakingperfect progressive
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has been creakingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are creakingprogressive
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am creakingprogressive 1st person singular
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creakssingular 3rd person
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creakingparticiple
Past
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had creakedperfect
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was creakingprogressive singular
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were creakingprogressive plural
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had been creakingperfect progressive
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creakedparticiple
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creakedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of creak
1275–1325; Middle English creken to croak, apparently back formation from Old English crǣcettan, variant of crācettan to croak
Explanation
To creak is to make a high, groaning sound, like a rusty gate swinging shut. The old, worn floorboards in your house might creak as you walk down the hall. Old doors and gates creak as they open, and tree branches creak as they blow around in very heavy wind. The sound itself is also a creak: "The creak of the front door in the silent house made them jump." In the 14th century, to creak was to "utter a harsh cry," and soon afterward it came to mean the same noise made by an object. Creak is imitative — the word itself sounds like a creak.
Vocabulary lists containing creak
Lend Me Your Ears: Sound Words
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"The Last Word"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
