creaky
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of creaky
Explanation
Something that's creaky makes a groaning or scraping sound. If your front door is creaky, its hinges might need to be oiled. The sound of footsteps on a creaky wood floor, or climbing your creaky stairs, can be spooky at night. You can also describe a hoarse or high-pitched voice as creaky, and your grandfather might sigh, "Oh, these creaky old knees," when he stands up. Creaky describes the grating sound, and also the worn out or run-down nature of old things or people. It comes from creak, which is imitative — its sound suggests its meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing creaky
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:
On the love song “Easy,” she sounds creaky and weathered, flittering off-key.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
It's not just at the airport that the transport network is creaky.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
The most creaky veteran played with the most aggression.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
On my last night, the Tulsa Sound showed up beyond the sanctuary’s creaky halls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
I sat in one of the creaky folding chairs and rested my head against the wall with my eyes closed.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
But as we get further into this decade and the economy looks ever creakier, the stakes of these boom-and-busts are just as pressing as the perils that lead companies to take them on.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026
Morgan always designed his drama to be a "love letter" to the recently departed monarch, and it plays as such, even in these creakier new episodes.
From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2022
“It’s true, all of it,” says Harrison Ford, back as an older, perhaps creakier, Han Solo.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2015
Sloane’s second novel is a bit creakier than his first, slower-moving and more conventional in its setup and marred by an ending that feels rushed.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2015
Once the backbone of a proud NFL franchise, Pittsburgh's defense has grown grayer, creakier, and slow as ketchup from a bottle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2015
The 21-year-old, born Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., has these strangely piercing hazel eyes that, when he’s skeptical, can make you feel like the creakiest boomer alive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
He was driving the creakiest, oldest and smallest Hyundai that I'd ever seen.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2018
But Wan has a gift for investing even the creakiest cliches with shivery élan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2016
In 1936, Hollywood staged one of its earliest – and creakiest – onscreen apocalypses in San Francisco, a melodrama about the city-leveling 1906 earthquake.
From The Guardian ● May 23, 2015
I lead the way, pointing to the creakiest steps so Fina will know to skip them.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.
