Definition

1. 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.

2. 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

1. 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
2. a pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot
3. a slow longitudinal movement or deformation
4. someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

Verb

1. show submission or fear
2. grow or spread, often in such a way as to cover (a surface)
   • ivy crept over the walls of the university buildings
3. to go stealthily or furtively
   • ..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house
4. move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
   • The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed