creature

[kree-cher]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR creature ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an animal, especially a nonhuman: the creatures of the woods and fields; a creature from outer space.

anything created, whether animate or inanimate.

person; human being: She is a charming creature. The driver of a bus is sometimes an irritable creature.

an animate being.

a person whose position or fortune is owed to someone or something and who continues under the control or influence of that person or thing: The cardinal was a creature of Louis XI.

Scot. and Older U.S. Use. intoxicating liquor, especially whiskey (usually preceded by the): He drinks a bit of the creature before bedtime.

Origin of creature

1250–1300; Middle English creature < Late Latin creātūra act of creating. See create, -ure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for creature

woman, individual, soul, fellow, person, animal, man, critter, body, creation, personage, brute, mortal, party, quadruped, varmint

Examples from the Web for creature

Contemporary Examples of creature

Indeed, Dr. Shaheed has noted that Rouhani has only “limited authority” to change the system of which he is a creature.
Iran’s Horrific Human-Rights Record
Sen. Mark Kirk, Sen. Marco Rubio
November 7, 2014
He is a creature of the White House, cloaked in executive privilege.
Where There’s Trouble, You’ll Usually Find Joe Biden
Lloyd Green
October 21, 2014
This level-headed man of logic, however, is also a creature of moods and funks.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up
Tom Boswell
September 27, 2014
In its earliest years, the New York Fed was literally a creature of Wall Street.
The Incredible 'Wussiness' Of The Fed Vs Goldman Sachs—Caught On Tape
Daniel Gross
September 26, 2014
That creature threatened the goats until the biggest one butted him off the bridge, never to trouble pedestrians again.
Dems Troll Christie on Bridgegate
Olivia Nuzzi
September 7, 2014

Historical Examples of creature

Would I rob Heaven and give the praise and honour to the creature?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
This is certainly a very high and unusual devise to so young a creature.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
He smiled' at Miss Gregg, who was elderly and gray, but visibly his creature.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Every creature whose rival I could possibly become is my enemy.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
No, I heard nothing; I felt the thought of that creature touching my thought.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin

British Dictionary definitions for creature

creature

noun

a living being, esp an animal

something that has been created, whether animate or inanimatea creature of the imagination

a human being; person: used as a term of scorn, pity, or endearment

a person who is dependent upon another; tool or puppet

Derived Formscreatural or creaturely, adjectivecreatureliness, noun

Word Origin for creature

C13: from Church Latin crēatūra, from Latin crēare to create

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for creature

late 13c., "anything created," also "living being," from Old French creature (Modern French créature), from Late Latin creatura "thing created," from creatus, past participle of Latin creare "create" (see create). Meaning "anything that ministers to man's comforts" (1610s), after I Tim. iv:4, led to jocular use for "whiskey" (1630s).