CREATURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does creature mean? 

• CREATURE (noun)
  The noun CREATURE has 3 senses:

1. a living organism characterized by voluntary movement

2. a human being; 'wight' is an archaic term

3. a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

  Familiarity information: CREATURE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CREATURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A living organism characterized by voluntary movement

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna

Hypernyms ("creature" is a kind of...):

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Meronyms (parts of "creature"):

caput; head (the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains)

face (the part of an animal corresponding to the human face)

Meronyms (substance of "creature"):

animal tissue (the tissue in the bodies of animals)

Domain member category:

crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

crested; topknotted; tufted ((of a bird or animal) having a usually ornamental tuft or process on the head; often used in combination)

bone-covered ((of animals) armored with bone)

free-swimming; unattached ((of animals) able to swim about; not attached)

hispid ((of animals or plants) having stiff coarse hairs or bristles)

flesh-eating; meat-eating; zoophagous ((of animals) carnivorous)

ritual killing; sacrifice (the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity)

drench (force to drink)

phytophagic; phytophagous; phytophilous; plant-eating ((of animals) feeding on plants)

all-devouring ((of animals) both plant-eating and flesh-eating)

insectivorous ((of animals and plants) feeding on insects)

epizootic ((of animals) epidemic among animals of a single kind within a particular region)

adult; big; full-grown; fully grown; grown; grownup ((of animals) fully developed)

half-blooded; half-bred; half-breed ((of animals) having only one purebred parent)

registered ((of animals) officially recorded with or certified by a recognized breed association; especially in a stud book)

unregistered ((of animals) not recorded with or certified by an official breed association)

gregarious ((of animals) tending to form a group with others of the same species)

social (tending to move or live together in groups or colonies of the same kind)

domesticate; tame (make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans)

tracking; trailing (the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or marks they left behind)

micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)

actinomycete (any bacteria (some of which are pathogenic for humans and animals) belonging to the order Actinomycetales)

trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)

humaneness (the quality of compassion or consideration for others (people or animals))

body; organic structure (the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being))

side (either the left or right half of a body)

nose (the sense of smell (especially in animals))

diet (the usual food and drink consumed by an organism (person or animal))

transmitter; vector (any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease)

sitter (an organism (person or animal) that sits)

stander (an organism (person or animal) that stands)

wart (any small rounded protuberance (as on certain plants or animals))

schistosome dermatitis; swimmer's itch (a sensitization reaction to repeated invasion of the skin by cercariae of schistosomes)

bone; debone (remove the bones from)

domesticate; domesticise; domesticize; reclaim; tame (overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "creature"):

metazoan (any animal of the subkingdom Metazoa; all animals except protozoans and sponges)

giant (any creature of exceptional size)

survivor (an animal that survives in spite of adversity)

mutant (an animal that has undergone mutation)

herbivore (any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants)

insectivore (any organism that feeds mainly on insects)

acrodont (an animal having teeth consolidated with the summit of the alveolar ridge without sockets)

pleurodont (an animal having teeth fused with the inner surface of the alveolar ridge without sockets)

zooplankton (animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae)

conceptus; embryo; fertilized egg (an animal organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation that in higher forms merge into fetal stages but in lower forms terminate in commencement of larval life)

chordate (any animal of the phylum Chordata having a notochord or spinal column)

invertebrate (any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification)

pureblood; purebred; thoroughbred (a pedigreed animal of unmixed lineage; used especially of horses)

omnivore (an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances)

predator; predatory animal (any animal that lives by preying on other animals)

prey; quarry (animal hunted or caught for food)

game (animal hunted for food or sport)

hexapod (an animal having six feet)

biped (an animal with two feet)

larva (the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose)

racer (an animal that races)

fictional animal (animals that exist only in fiction (usually in children's stories))

captive (an animal that is confined)

mate (the partner of an animal (especially a sexual partner))

domestic animal; domesticated animal (any of various animals that have been tamed and made fit for a human environment)

pest (any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.)

critter (a regional term for 'creature' (especially for domestic animals))

creepy-crawly (an animal that creeps or crawls (such as worms or spiders or insects))

darter (a person or other animal that moves abruptly and rapidly)

peeper (an animal that makes short high-pitched sounds)

homeotherm; homoiotherm; homotherm (an animal that has a body temperature that is relatively constant and independent of the environmental temperature)

ectotherm; poikilotherm (an animal whose body temperature varies with the temperature of its surroundings; any animal except birds and mammals)

range animal (any animal that lives and grazes in the grassy open land of western North America (especially horses, cattle, sheep))

varment; varmint (any usually predatory wild animal considered undesirable; e.g., coyote)

scavenger (any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter)

work animal (an animal trained for and used for heavy labor)

feeder (an animal that feeds on a particular source of food)

migrator (an animal (especially birds and fish) that travels between different habitats at particular times of the year)

molter; moulter (an animal (especially birds and arthropods and reptiles) that periodically shed their outer layer (feathers or cuticle or skin or hair))

pet (a domesticated animal kept for companionship or amusement)

stayer (a person or other animal having powers of endurance or perseverance)

stunt (a creature (especially a whale) that has been prevented from attaining full growth)

marine animal; marine creature; sea animal; sea creature (any of numerous animals inhabiting the sea including e.g. fishes and molluscs and many mammals)

female (an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa))

male (an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova))

adult (any mature animal)

offspring; young (any immature animal)

Holonyms ("creature" is a member of...):

animal kingdom; Animalia; kingdom Animalia (taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct animals)

Derivation:

create (make or cause to be or to become)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A human being; 'wight' is an archaic term

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

creature; wight

Hypernyms ("creature" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

create (make or cause to be or to become)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

creature; puppet; tool

Hypernyms ("creature" is a kind of...):

slave (a person who is owned by someone)

 Context examples 

Nor could I attack such a creature who had but to twist my arm to break it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer by the loss of such a creature.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He had a favourite sister, said my aunt, a good creature, and very kind to him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

More tormentors, Buck decided, for they were evil-looking creatures, ragged and unkempt; and he stormed and raged at them through the bars.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

What savage creature was it which might steal upon us out of the darkness?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What link could there be between that creature and my wife?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the creature flapped and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the matter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She eats and drinks and sleeps like a sensible creature, she looks straight in my face when I talk about that man, and only blushes a little bit when Teddy jokes about lovers.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Even the babies were as big as elephants, while the two large ones were far beyond all creatures I have ever seen.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Denied the expression of power amongst his own kind, he fell back upon the lesser creatures and there vindicated the life that was in him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)