creep
/kri:p/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A slow, stealthy, or furtive movement: The act of moving slowly and carefully, often to avoid being noticed.
- An unpleasant or repulsive person: A person who behaves in a strange, unsettling, or obsequious way.
- A slow, continuous deformation or movement: A gradual physical change in shape or position of a material under stress.
Verb:
- To move slowly and carefully, often with the body close to the ground: To progress in a quiet, stealthy manner.
- To grow or spread gradually over a surface: To extend slowly across an area, like a plant.
- To cause a sensation of fear or disgust: To induce a feeling of unease or revulsion.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- The traffic was moving at a creep. (The vehicles were advancing very slowly.)
- He's such a creep; he's always staring at people. (He is a very strange and unpleasant person.)
- The creep of the glacier is measured in centimeters per year. (The glacier's slow, continuous movement is minimal.)
Verb:
- The cat will creep up on the bird. (The cat will move slowly and stealthily toward the bird.)
- Vines creep over the old garden wall. (Vines grow and spread across the surface of the wall.)
- That horror movie really creeped me out. (That movie gave me a strong feeling of fear and disgust.)
Advanced Usage
"to creep in/into": To enter or appear gradually and often unnoticed.
- Errors can creep into the text if you're not careful. (Mistakes can slowly become part of the text without you realizing.)
"to creep up on someone": To approach someone stealthily; (figuratively) for something to happen or increase gradually.
- Winter seems to creep up on us every year. (The arrival of winter feels sudden because it approaches gradually.)
"to make one's flesh creep": To cause someone to feel fear, horror, or disgust.
- The ghost story made my flesh creep. (The story gave me a shudder of fear.)
Variants and Related Words
Creepy (adj): Causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.
- The abandoned house had a creepy atmosphere. (The house's feeling was unsettling and scary.)
Creeper (n): A plant that grows along the ground or over surfaces; (informal) a creeping person or thing.
- Ivy is a common creeper. (Ivy is a plant that spreads over surfaces.)
Synonyms
- Verb: Crawl, slink, sneak, inch, steal.
- Noun: Lout, weirdo, jerk (for the person); crawl, slide (for the movement).
Related Phrasal Verbs
Creep out (informal): To cause someone to feel intense disgust or fear.
- His strange comments really crept me out. (His comments made me feel very uncomfortable and scared.)
Creep over/up: To spread or advance slowly across.
- A feeling of dread crept over the crowd. (A sense of fear slowly affected everyone in the crowd.)
Related Idioms
Give someone the creeps: To make someone feel frightened or disgusted.
- That old portrait gives me the creeps. (That painting makes me feel scared and uneasy.)
Creep into someone's favor: To gain someone's approval through flattery or obsequious behavior.
- He tried to creep into the manager's favor by always agreeing with him. (He attempted to gain the manager's liking by being overly agreeable.)
Noun
- a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body
- a crawl was all that the injured man could manage
- the traffic moved at a creep
- a pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot
- a slow longitudinal movement or deformation
- someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric
Verb
- show submission or fear
- grow or spread, often in such a way as to cover (a surface)
- ivy crept over the walls of the university buildings
- to go stealthily or furtively
- ..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house
- move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
- The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed