critter
Americannoun
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critters
plural
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a domesticated animal.
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any creature.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of critter
Variant of creature
Explanation
A critter is an animal. If you hear scratching noises in your ceiling at night, you can be sure that some kind of critter is living in your attic. Critter is an informal word for any living creature, from a wolf to a spider. You might like going to watch various critters at the zoo, or live on a small farm where you can keep critters of your own, like goats and chickens. Critter first appeared in the early 19th century, a shortened slang or joking form of the word creature.
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:
The critter gained numerous fans during its brief romp around Comerica, with the crowd booing after its capture and again when Miller called for a round of applause for the ground crew after the ordeal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
They found Madagascar "hissing" cockroaches, a bulky insect named for its noisy defence mechanism, and dubia cockroaches, an invasive critter bred as a snack for pet lizards.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
As Popcorn gained popularity online, Chris and Lily wrote a book together about the impact that the little critter had on their family, which was then published in May 2024.
From BBC ● May 24, 2025
A neighbor had already posted an image of an early-emerging critter.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Finally he said, “There’s Dollie Mae. That’s that old critter they mostly keep out to pasture over to Mr. Barrett’s. But it’s a good mile to their plantation.”
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
“We started looking around and we found them throughout: where we washed our hands and the showers,” he said, adding that the critters looked like gusanitos — little worms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
In short: The Minions are an immortal yet childlike tribe of yellow critters continually seeking to serve an evil master.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
People first embraced Grogu as a novelty, the latest in a line of cute, rascally critters going back to the Ewoks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
It is easy enough to love dogs, cats and bunny rabbits, but what about roaches, wasps, snakes, vultures, rats and other largely unloved critters?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Every kind of flower she could imagine, birds of every color of the rainbow, and critters of all sorts, from blue tree toads to bunnybeavers, bloomed and flew and scampered about the garden.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
