creature
UK /ˈkɹiː.tʃə/ · US /ˈkɹi.tʃɚ/ noun
Forms creatures creacher creatur
- noun A living being, such as an animal, monster, or alien. “insects and other creatures”
- noun An unidentified, mysterious, and often monstrous animal or being.
- noun (sometimes derogatory) A human. “He's a creature of habit.”
- noun (now uncommon, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
- noun A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
Synonyms
puppet being animal animate being beast brute fauna wight tool
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English creature (“a created thing”), borrowed via Old French creature, from Late Latin creātūra, from creō. By surface analysis, create + -ure. Displaced native Old English ġesċeaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Anything created; anything not self-existent; especially, any being created with life; an animal; a man. He asked water, a creature so common and needful that it was against the law of nature to deny him. Fuller.
- noun A human being, in pity, contempt, or endearment; as, a poor creature; a pretty creature.
Etymology [F. cr, L. creatura. See Create.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “creature”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details