creature
Pronunciation
  • (RP) enPR: krē'chə, IPA: /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃə/
  • (GA) enPR: krē'chər, IPA: /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃəɹ/
  • enPR: krē.āʹtyo͝or, IPA: /kɹiːˈeɪtjʊə/ (archaic)
Noun

creature (plural creatures)

  1. A living being; an animal or (sometimes, derogatory) a human.
    He's a creature of habit.   insects and other creatures
    • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
      But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?
  2. (now rare) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
    • 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":
      Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:
      the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.
  3. A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
    • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:
      they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.
Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary