CREATURE

animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna

(noun) a living organism characterized by voluntary movement

creature, wight

(noun) a human being; ‘wight’ is an archaic term

creature, tool, puppet

(noun) a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

A living being; an animal or (sometimes, derogatory) a human.

(now rare) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.

A being subservient to or dependent upon another.

Usage notes

For an explanation of the specialised use of the alternative spelling creäture, see its entry’s usage notes.

• Adjectives often applied to "creature": evil, living, little, mythical, poor, strange, beautiful, wild, rational, marine, social, legendary, good, mysterious, curious, magical, dangerous, mythological, bizarre, monstrous, unhappy, huge, lowly, ugly, happy, unique, odd, weird, demonic, divine, imaginary, hideous, fabulous, nocturnal, angelic, political.

Hyponyms

• See also creature

Anagrams

• ecarteur

Source: Wiktionary


Crea"ture (kr"tr; 135), n. Etym: [F. cr, L. creatura. See Create.]

1. 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. God's first creature was light. Bacon. On earth, join, all ye creatures, to extol Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. Milton. And most attractive is the fair result Of thought, the creature of a polished mind. Cowper.

2. A human being, in pity, contempt, or endearment; as, a poor creature; a pretty creature. The world hath not a sweeter creature. Shak.

3. A person who owes his rise and fortune to another; a servile dependent; an instrument; a tool. A creature of the queen's, Lady Anne Bullen. Shak. Both Charles himself and his creature, Laud. Macualay.

4. A general term among farmers for horses, oxen, etc. Creature comforts, those which minister to the comfort of the body.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 November 2024

ONCHOCERCIASIS

(noun) infestation with slender threadlike roundworms (filaria) deposited under the skin by the bite of black fleas; when the eyes are involved it can result in blindness; common in Africa and tropical America


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Coffee Trivia

The average annual yield from one coffee tree is the equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of roasted coffee. It takes about 4,000 hand-picked green coffee beans to make a pound of coffee.

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