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creep up on

Idioms

Advance slowly or stealthily, as in The cat crept up on the bird, or Autumn is creeping up on us. This expression is recorded in slightly different form——from the 15th century on. One of the Hymns to the Virgin and Christ (c. 1430) has “Now age has cropen [crept] up on me ful stille.”

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.

Cramps can creep up on those who misjudge their pre-match routine.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2025

The heat and dryness means sweat evaporates quickly, so it’s easy for dehydration to creep up on you.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2024

The problems of old age are starting to creep up on us.

From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2022

“You’ve got to talk about what you’re feeling because if you don’t and you’re holding anything back, that’s when it can really creep up on you and you never know what can happen.”

From Seattle Times • Sep. 9, 2022

Determined not to let the past creep up on her, she altered her thought at once.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023