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  • Cree
    Cree
    noun
    a member of a North American Indian people of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Montana.
  • cree
    cree
    noun
    temporary immunity from the rules of a game: said by children

Cree

American  
[kree] / kri /

noun

Crees, plural Cree plural
  1. a member of a North American Indian people of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Montana.

  2. an Algonquian language, the language of the Cree Indians.


Cree 1 British  
/ kriː /

noun

  1. a member of a Native American people living in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba

  2. the language of this people, belonging to the Algonquian family

  3. a syllabic writing system of this and certain other languages

"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

cree 2 British  
/ kriː /

noun

  1. dialect temporary immunity from the rules of a game: said by children

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of Cree1

from first syllable of Canadian French Christianaux, probably based on Ojibwa Kenistenoag (tribal name)

Origin of cree2

of unknown origin

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:

He is survived by his wife, Cinda Cree Hicks, six children and 14 grandchildren.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 9, 2025

Based on Cree values and a commitment to Indigenous food sovereignty, it provides a rich example of a systemic and structural solution to addressing food insecurity at a more local level.

From Salon Sep. 4, 2024

And then Cairo will have the pancakes with bananas and extra syrup, and Cree will get a chai latte with oat milk and avocado toast.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 12, 2024

“Together, as a Nation, we mourn with the people of James Smith Cree Nation,” Chief Bobby Cameron said in a news release.

From Seattle Times Jan. 15, 2024

The Cree now mostly lived south of Churchill, while the Inuit lived more in the north up in Nunavut, where the polar bears spent most of the winter.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

The court will hear arguments on this subject in mid-October, may take several months to write its de cree.

From Time Magazine Archive

With a curt de cree, the government dismissed the 86-year-old Chrysostomos and the twelve bishops of the Holy Synod, the church's highest governing body.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Cree, cree, cree,” Frightful answered from a leafless maple.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Luis de Leon implicitly denied the charge, which he manifestly thought beneath contempt: 'Y si yo hubiera tratado como Leon cree de que la Inquisicion vedara su libro, yo hiciera que se advirtiera.

From Fray Luis de León A Biographical Fragment by Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James

The door of Ruttledge's office whispered: ee: cree.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

For third-year engineering student Michelle Crees, there is a lack of clarity over what to expect over the coming weeks.

From BBC Jun. 15, 2023

Over the years, the Crees have pushed for greater protection of their traditional territory in northern Quebec, which are mostly on provincial lands.

From New York Times Nov. 16, 2022

Mr. Saganash, the tallyman who has long fought against logging, belongs to the Crees centered in Waswanipi, a town eight hours north by car from Montreal.

From New York Times Nov. 16, 2022

The Crees claim that by drying some rivers and inundating others, the hydroelectric project is affecting everything from the health of moose herds to the eelgrasses that are vital to migratory birds.

From Time Magazine Archive

Confident of finding game plentiful, his partners, with the usual lack of foresight of the Crees, had netted less than three months' supply of whitefish and lake-trout.

From The Whelps of the Wolf by Marsh, George P.

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