creak
Americanverb (used without object)
-
creaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
creaked,
past participle, past
-
creaking
present participle
-
to make a sharp, harsh, grating, or squeaking sound.
-
to move with creaking.
verb (used with object)
-
creaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
creaked,
past participle, past
-
creaking
present participle
noun
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creaks
plural
verb
-
to make or cause to make a harsh squeaking sound
-
(intr) to make such sounds while moving
the old car creaked along
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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creaksimple
-
creakssimple
-
have creakedperfect
-
has creakedperfect
-
am creakingprogressive
-
are creakingprogressive
-
is creakingprogressive
-
have been creakingperfect progressive
-
has been creakingperfect progressive
Past
-
creakedsimple
-
had creakedperfect
-
was creakingprogressive
-
were creakingprogressive
-
had been creakingperfect progressive
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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"Fear" and "Violence Hits Home"
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"The Last Word"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When the wind blows hard, and their branches and boughs thrash and creak, I am convinced they will topple over and cleave my home in twain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
She heard music everywhere: a spoon banging against a cooking pot, the honking of geese overheard, the creak and slam of a screen door.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2026
She’s used to hearing provisional bleachers creak under sunscreen-slathered fans as music buzzes through nearby portable speakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2025
Just the sunny day causing an old building to creak and groan, or something uncanny?
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2024
Thanks to Mr. Lucas, our floors didn’t creak as much as Miss Trotter’s old wooden floors.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
As French firefighters struggle to contain the worst wildfires in living memory with just 12 aerial water bombers, production of the iconic aircraft creaks along half a world away in a Canadian factory.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
I’m not saying we’re actively rooting for McIlroy to blow it, but it’s always spicy when the roller coaster creaks and the leaderboard gets shifty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Fennell begins on a black screen and the sound of creaks and moans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
The painting creaks with fecund joy, as if it wants to go on flourishing.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2024
It creaks as it swings, revealing a set of dusty concrete steps that ascend to a slightly ajar wooden hatch.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
It creaked past his shelter, past the collapsed buildings and ravaged orchards towards the west, away from the Yellow Line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Except for when passengers, after taking turns at rigging, filed below deck to explore the ship’s white-oak skeleton, which flexed and creaked in the current—the ancient sounds of a seafaring world that’s all but lost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"Derry Girls just creaked the door open ... because there's such trust in the fact that people will watch a story about that place, about those people," she said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
Germany’s economy as a whole has stagnated since late 2019, after its manufacturing base creaked under high energy prices, increased competition, and a slowdown in Chinese demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
“Ah, yes, of course! How efficient you are, my princess, how noble and precise are your manners!” creaked the palace.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
I am sure he will get it right eventually, but at the moment they are leaking goals and creaking at the back.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
But the continuing outbreak is in an active war zone where community mistrust persists and the healthcare system is creaking, and responders haven’t had much success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Reacting to the announcement, a prison officer told the BBC that they were "creaking at the seams" and that "delaying the releases until October could mean we simply run out of space".
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
That has pushed a system, already creaking under years of under-investment and trade sanctions, to the point of collapse.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
He stretches his fingers, frowning at the audible creaking of the joints.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
