creature
Americannoun
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an animal, especially a nonhuman.
the creatures of the woods and fields; a creature from outer space.
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anything created, whether animate or inanimate.
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person; human being.
She is a charming creature. The driver of a bus is sometimes an irritable creature.
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an animate being.
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a person whose position or fortune is owed to someone or something and who continues under the control or influence of that person or thing.
The cardinal was a creature of Louis XI.
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Scot. and Older U.S. Use. Usually the creature intoxicating liquor, especially whiskey.
He drinks a bit of the creature before bedtime.
noun
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a living being, esp an animal
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something that has been created, whether animate or inanimate
a creature of the imagination
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a human being; person: used as a term of scorn, pity, or endearment
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a person who is dependent upon another; tool or puppet
Other Word Forms
- creatural adjective
- creatureliness noun
Etymology
Origin of creature
First recorded before 1250–1300; Middle English creature, from Late Latin creātūra “act of creating”; create, -ure
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.
Clarke is a creature of habit and it's difficult to see any of these guys getting in the shake-up now.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
Stacy, being a Manhattan lady who lunches, loves her 24-carat gold creature comforts too much to join Preston on his Montana fishing trips because he never installed an indoor toilet.
From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026
After the crew answers a distress signal and brings an alien life form back with them, their vessel becomes a trap, its corridors narrowing as the creature moves through the shadows.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
Online sleuthing leads Evy and Justin to a demonic creature that causes miscarriages and stillbirths: Abyzou, the bitter spirit of an infertile woman who visits chaos upon other pregnancies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
Though was a jackalope prince easier to believe than a living, breathing creature from a story?
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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.
