Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Creature |
CreatureNoun1. A living organism characterized by voluntary movement. 2. A human being; `wight' is an archaic term. 3. A person who is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "creature" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Creature denotes the whole creation in Rom. 8:39; Col. 1:15; Rev. 5:13; the whole human race in Mark 16:15; Rom. 8:19-22. The living creatures in Ezek. 10:15, 17, are imaginary beings, symbols of the Divine attributes and operations. Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Literature | Creature (The). Whisky or other spirits. A contracted form of "Creature-comfort." "When he chanced to have taken an overdose of the creature." - Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xliv. A drop of the creature. A little whisky. The Irish call it "a drop of the crater." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: CreatureSynonyms: animal (n), animate being (n), beast (n), brute (n), fauna (n), puppet (n), tool (n), wight (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Animal | Beast, brute, creature, critter, wight, created being; creeping thing, living thing; dumb animal, dumb creature; zoophyte. |
Carrier | Beast, beast of burden, cattle, horse, nag, palfrey, Arab, blood horse, thoroughbred, galloway, charger, courser, racer, hunter, jument, pony, filly, colt, foal, barb, roan, jade, hack, bidet, pad, cob, punch, roadster, goer; racehorse, pack horse, draft horse, cart horse, dray horse, post horse; ketch; Shetland pony, shelty, sheltie; garran, garron; jennet, genet, bayard, mare, stallion, gelding; bronco, broncho, cayuse; creature, critter; cow pony, mustang, Narraganset, waler; stud. |
Effect | Production, produce, work, handiwork, fabric, performance; creature, creation; offspring, offshoot; firstfruits, firstlings; heredity, telegony; premices premises. |
Food | Comestibles, eatables, victuals, edibles, ingesta; grub, grubstake, prog, meat; bread, bread stuffs; cerealia; cereals; viands, cates, delicacy, dainty, creature comforts, contents of the larder, fleshpots; festal board; ambrosia; good cheer, good living. |
Impulse | Improvisatore; creature of impulse. |
Mankind | Human being; person, personage; individual, creature, fellow creature, mortal, body, somebody; one; such a one, some one; soul, living soul; earthling; party, head, hand; dramatis personae; quidam. |
Physical Pleasure | Noun: pleasure; physical pleasure, sensual pleasure, sensuous pleasure; bodily enjoyment, animal gratification, hedonism, sensuality; luxuriousness. Adjective: dissipation, round of pleasure, gusto, creature comforts, comfort, ease; pillow. (support); luxury, lap of luxury; purple and fine linen; bed of downs, bed of roses; velvet, clover; cup of Circe. (intemperance). |
Servant | Serf, vassal, slave, negro, helot; bondsman, bondswoman; bondslave; ame damnee, odalisque, ryot, adscriptus gleboe; villian, villein; beadsman, bedesman; sizar; pensioner, pensionary; client; dependant, dependent; hanger on, satellite; parasite; (servility); led captain; protege, ward, hireling, mercenary, puppet, tool, creature. |
Substantiality | Noun: substantiality, hypostasis; person, being, thing, object, article, item; something, a being, an existence; creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum; matter; corporeity, element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Let me see if I've got this straight, Lieutenant: it's an 8-foot creature, some kind with acid for blood, kills on sight, and is generally unpleasant (Alien³; writing credit: Dan O'Bannon; Ronald Shusett) Stop! He is our guide, this creature is bound to me as I'm as bound to him. (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Follow. But! Follow only if ye be men of valour, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived (Monty Python and the Holy Grail; writing credit: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.) My mum, a strange creature from the time when pickles on toothpicks were still the height of sophistication (Bridget Jones's Diary; writing credit: Helen Fielding) Every creature on this earth dies alone (Donnie Darko; writing credit: Richard Kelly) | |
Lyrics | But all the while you hear the creature creepin' up behind (Thriller; performing artist: Michael Jackson) Creature comfort goals (Pleasant Valley Sunday; performing artist: The Monkees) But I know every rock and tree and creature (Colors of the wind; performing artist: Vanessa Williams) | |
Clever | All of us are God's creatures...just some are more creature than others. (references; author: unknown) Man is a peculiar creature. He spends a fortune making his home insect-proof and air-conditioned, and then eats in the yard. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Cat Creature (1973) Creature Feature (1971) The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) Revenge of the Creature (1955) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | "A Monster Born of a Ewe". In: "Journal des Observations Physiques, Mathematiques et Botaniques ...." by Louis Feuillee, 1660-1732. Published in 1714. P. 242. Library Call Number Q115 .F43 1714. A "monster" observed by the author in Buenos Aires in 1708. The author was serious as he reported this creature to the King of France. Credit: Treasures of the Library. |  | The creature snarled and squealed and showed its shrivelled old gums and tried to strike with its knife. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". Credit: Library of Congress. |  | "This must be that strange creature they mentioned in history class" / Herblock. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Balloon barrage training center. Aerial octopus. This strange looking creature is a tail view of one of the barrage balloons prompting the above title. The lower fin is filled with gas last as it is slowly raised from the ground. Camp Tyson, Tennessee. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Man, dog-like creature, and bacon. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Abstract design incorporating crescent moon, violin outline, and batlike flying creature. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Dabb (Thubb)" by MESH'AL A. Commentary: "Dabb (Thubb) Saudi Arabia's most well known creature. this beast can survive the desert without the need of water, it condense air into liquid. it got strong jaws. if it bites your finger.. will, you probably wont be able to count up to ten :}." | "Colourful turtle" by C.H. So Commentary: "A coulourful shelled creature on top of a metal mountain." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Benjamin Disraeli | Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. |
Francis Bacon | God's first creature, which was light. |
Irving Layton | God is indeed dead. He died of self-horror when He saw the creature He had made in His own image. |
Johann Friedrich Von Schiller | All things must; man is the only creature that wills. |
Seneca | Whenever you hold a fellow creature in distress, remember that he is a man. |
Steele | A healthy old fellow, who is not a fool, is the happiest creature living. |
Thomas Carlyle | Man is emphatically a proselytizing creature. |
Thomas Hobbes | The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only. |
William Shakespeare | Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | God having made man such a creature, that in his own judgment, it was not good for him to be alone, put him under strong obligations of necessity, convenience, and inclination to drive him into society, as well as fitted him with understanding and language to continue and enjoy it. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Her aunt is a good creature, but, as a constant companion, must be very tiresome |
Alice in Wonderland | Carroll, Lewis | So she set the little creature down, and felt quite relieved to see it trot away quietly into the wood |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Marius gazed upon this unfortunate creature with profound compassion |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | A feeble creature like a monkey was there, drawn thither by the sound of voices at the fire |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | There was a balanced, careful, wise creature who smiled shyly but very firmly at him. |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | I said I had not, and desired he would explain to me what he meant by such an appellation applied to a mortal creature. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | FAIRY, n. A creature, variously fashioned and endowed, that formerly inhabited the meadows and forests. It was nocturnal in its habits, and somewhat addicted to dancing and the theft of children. The fairies are now believed by naturalist to be extinct, though a clergyman of the Church of England saw three near Colchester as lately as 1855, while passing through a park after dining with the lord of the manor. The sight greatly staggered him, and he was so affected that his account of it was incoherent. In the year 1807 a troop of fairies visited a wood near Aix and carried off the daughter of a peasant, who had been seen to enter it with a bundle of clothing. The son of a wealthy bourgeois disappeared about the same time, but afterward returned. He had seen the abduction been in pursuit of the fairies. Justinian Gaux, a writer of the fourteenth century, avers that so great is the fairies' power of transformation that he saw one change itself into two opposing armies and fight a battle with great slaughter, and that the next day, after it had resumed its original shape and gone away, there were seven hundred bodies of the slain which the villagers had to bury. He does not say if any of the wounded recovered. In the time of Henry III, of England, a law was made which prescribed the death penalty for "Kyllynge, wowndynge, or mamynge" a fairy, and it was universally respected. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Creature" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.83% of the time. "Creature" is used about 1,788 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.83% | 1,785 | 4,731 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.17% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,788 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "creature". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Asahel | N/A | Biblical | Creature of God |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "creature": clumsy creature ♦ creature comforts ♦ creature of impulse ♦ dumb creature ♦ feature creature ♦ feeping creature ♦ fellow creature ♦ hypothetical creature ♦ imaginary creature ♦ legendary creature ♦ little creature ♦ living creature ♦ mythical creature ♦ poor creature ♦ restless creature ♦ small creature ♦ subhuman creature ♦ unlucky creature ♦ you can't indulge every creature. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "creature": creature-comfortable, creature-flesh, creature-from-another-planet, creature-killer, creature-world. | |
Ending with "creature": cat-creature. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "creature"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | qenie e gjallë, njeri (Cully, dog, homo, human, human being, laddie, man, one, person, relative), krijesë (baby, being, creation), kafshë (animal, beast, brute), frymor (animated object, being). (various references) | |
Arabic | كائن حي (life, machine, organism), مخلوق (duck, things), صنيعة, إنسان (human being, man, person), أداة لخلق, بقرة (boss, cow). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | създание (formation), твар, креатура (creation, minion), оръдие (cannon, gun, implement, instrument, pander, piece, tool), живо същество (being, breather). (various references) | |
Chinese | 生物 (Biologic, Biological, Biologically, Biology, Biotic, critter). (various references) | |
Czech | výtvor (artefact, creation, production), tvor (being, thing), stvoření (creation, the creation, thing). (various references) | |
Dutch | wezen (be, character, essence, gist, nature). (various references) | |
Esperanto | kreito, kreitaĵo, estulo. (various references) | |
Faeroese | skapningur (prick). (various references) | |
Farsi | مخلوق , جانور (Animal, Beast, Brute), افریده . (various references) | |
Finnish | olio (being, chap, fellow, guy, person, thing), olento (being, person), luontokappale, elukka (animal, beast), eläin (animal, beast). (various references) | |
French | créature. (various references) | |
Frisian | skepsel. (various references) | |
German | Geschöpf (being, creation), Lebewesen (living thing). (various references) | |
Greek | πλάσμα (figment). (various references) | |
Hebrew | יצור (being), יצר (compose, create, desire, impulse, inclination, instinct, lust, nature, urge), ברוא, ברנש (fellow, guy, human being, son of a gun, specimen). (various references) | |
Hungarian | teremtmény (being, creation). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mahluk. (various references) | |
Italian | creatura (being), essere (be, become, being, condition, cost, exist, existence, get, happen, have, human, to be, Wight). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 生物 (living things, raw food), 創造物 (creation). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | そうぞうぶつ (creation), せいぶつ (living things, object at rest, still life). (various references) | |
Korean | 창조물. (various references) | |
Manx | cretoor (animal). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eaturecray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | criatura (individual, wight). (various references) | |
Romanian | creaturã (being, cuss, minion), vietate, unealtã (cat's paw, dummy, furniture, implement, instrument, minister, pawn, puppet, tackle, thing, tool, utensil), sclav (bondman, hack, serf, slave, thrall), rob (bondsman, prisoner, slave), mâncare de bunã calitate, fiinţã (being, essence, existence, life, person, soul, substance, thing), fãpturã (being, build, figure, form, shape, stature), animal domestic. (various references) | |
Russian | существо (being, entity, essence, wight 1), ставленник (henchman), создание (creation, establishment, making, mintage), творение (creation), тварь (beast), креатура (henchman, minion), живое существо (being, breather, critter, living being, organism). (various references) | |
Scottish | creutair (being). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | stvorenje, stvor, biće (being, self). (various references) | |
Spanish | criatura (baby, infant, thing). (various references) | |
Swedish | varelse (being, existence, thing), skapelse (creation). (various references) | |
Turkish | yaratık (alien, criter, thing), varlık (asset, being, circumstance, circumstances, criter, entity, estate, existence, havings, means, possession, possessions, presence, property, stock, subsistence, wealth), kul (helot, servant, slave, vassal), alet olan kimse (stooge). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | створіння, ставленик (placeman), творення (creation, making), тварина (animal, beast, brute), жива істота (breather, organism). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tay sai (lackey, lacquey, mercenary, pensionary), sinh vật (being, breather), loài vật người, kẻ kẻ dưới. (various references) | |
Welsh | creadures, creadur (animal). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | animal, animalia, animalibus, animalis, animalium, animantem, animantibus, animantium, bestia, bestiae, bestiam, bestiarum, bestias, bestiis, creatura, creaturae, creaturam, plasma, plasmatis, plasmatum, volucre, volucrem, volucres, volucresque, volucri, volucribus, volucris, volucrum. (various references) |
| Avestan | 200-600 | ... dâman. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | ge-sceaft. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Mark Chapter 16, Verse 15 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai eipen autoiV poreuqenteV eiV ton kosmon apanta khruxate to euaggelion pash th ktisei |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et dixit eis euntes in mundum universum praedicate evangelium omni creaturae |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | & he saide heom. Gað swa wid swamidden-eard bodiende þt godspel ealle ge-scefte. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And he seide to hem, Go ye in to al the world, and preche the gospel to eche creature. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And he sayd vnto them: Goo ye in to all the worlde and preache the glad tyges to all creatures |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And he said to them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And he said to them, Go into all the world, and give the good news to everyone. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Mark Chapter 16, Verse 15 |
| Cebuano | Ug siya miingon kanila, "Panglakaw kamo sa tibuok kalibutan ug iwali ninyo ang Maayong Balita ngadto sa tibuok nga kabuhatan. |
| Croatian | I reèe im: "Poðite po svem svijetu, propovijedajte evanðelje svemu stvorenju. |
| Danish | Og han sagde til dem: "Går ud i al Verden og prædiker Evangeliet for al Skabningen! |
| Dutch | En Hij zeide tot hen: Gaat heen in de gehele wereld, predikt het Evangelie aan alle kreaturen. |
| Finnish | Ja hän sanoi heille: "Menkää kaikkeen maailmaan ja saarnatkaa evankeliumia kaikille luoduille. |
| French | Puis il leur dit: Allez par tout le monde, et prêchez la bonne nouvelle à toute la création. |
| Gaelic | Is thuirt e riutha: Falbhaibh feadh an t-saoghail gu leir, agus searmonaichibh an soisgeul dhan h-uile creutair. |
| German | Und er sprach zu ihnen: Gehet hin in alle Welt und prediget das Evangelium aller Kreatur. |
| Haitian Creole | Epi li di yo: -Ale toupatou sou latè, anonse Bon Nouvèl la bay tout moun. |
| Hungarian | És monda nékik: Elmenvén e széles világra, hirdessétek az evangyéliomot minden teremtésnek. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Lalu Yesus berkata kepada mereka, "Pergilah ke seluruh dunia dan siarkanlah Kabar Baik dari Allah itu kepada seluruh umat manusia. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Lalu bersabdalah Yesus kepada mereka itu, "Pergilah kamu ke seluruh bumi, beritakanlah Injil itu kepada sekalian alam. |
| Maori | Ka mea ki a ratou, Haere koutou ki te ao katoa, kauwhautia te rongopai ki nga tangata katoa. |
| Norwegian | Og han sa til dem: Gå ut i all verden og forkynn evangeliet for all skapningen! |
| Portuguese | E disse-lhes: Ide por todo o mundo, e pregai o evangelho a toda criatura. |
| Rumanian | Apoi le -a zis: ,,Duceyi-vq kn toatq lumea, wi propovqduiyi Evanghelia la orice fqpturq. |
| Shuar | Nuyá chichaak "Ashí nunkanam wetarum. Túrarum Ashí shuarnum Yusa shiir chichame etserkatarum. |
| Spanish | Y les dijo: "Id por todo el mundo y predicad el evangelio a toda criatura. |
| Swahili | Basi, akawaambia, "Nendeni ulimwenguni kote mkahubiri Habari Njema kwa kila mtu. |
| Swedish | Och han sade till dem: "Gån ut i hela världen och prediken evangelium för allt skapat. |
| Uma | Na'uli' -raka: "Hilou-mokoi hi humalili' dunia', mpopalele Kareba Lompe' hi hawe'ea tauna. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "creature": creaturehood, creaturehoods, creatureliness, creaturelinesses, creaturely, creatures. (additional references) | |
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"Creature" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Briatore, ceratite, craeture. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "creature" (pronounced krē"kher) |
| 4 | -r ē" kh er | preacher. |
| 3 | -ē" kh er | bleacher, feature, peacher, teacher. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-r-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: caterer, recrate, retrace, terrace. | |
-2 letters: acuter, career, carter, cerate, crater, create, curare, curate, curter, ecarte, retear, tearer, terrae, tracer, ureter. | |
-3 letters: acute, arete, carer, caret, carte, cater, crate, cruet, crura, curer, curet, cuter, eater, erect, eruct, racer, rater, react, recta, recur, recut, tarre, terce, terra, trace, truce, truer, urare, urate. | |
-4 letters: acre, care, carr. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-r-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: creatures, mercurate, recapture. | |
+2 letters: carbureted, chartreuse, creaturely, mercurated, mercurates, recaptured, recaptures, recuperate, underreact. | |
+3 letters: carburetted, carburetter, charcuterie, chartreuses, furtherance, prefectural, quarterdeck, recirculate, recuperated, recuperates, relubricate, treacherous, ultrasecret, unchartered, underreacts, watercourse. | |
+4 letters: architecture, carburetters, charcuteries, counterargue, countertrade, creaturehood, extranuclear, furtherances, internuclear, protuberance, quarterdecks, rearticulate, recirculated, recirculates, recuperating, recuperation, recuperative, relubricated, relubricates, subsecretary, ultraprecise, uncorrelated, underreacted, watercourses. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Names: Derived from 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Translations: Ancient 19. Bible Trace 20. Derivations | 21. Rhymes 22. Anagrams 23. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
