creeps 1 of 2

plural of creep

creeps

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of creep
1
as in encroaches
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits water crept slowly over the top of the tub and onto the floor

Synonyms & Similar Words

2
3
as in crawls
to move slowly with the body close to the ground the kitten crept silently across the floor before suddenly pouncing on the mouse

Synonyms & Similar Words

4

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of creeps
Noun
Giving this much power to women hopefully filters out the worst, impatient creeps. Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 17 June 2026 Succumbing to the urge to scroll Instagram the second conversation grows quiet or social awkwardness creeps in. Audrey Pachuta, Chicago Tribune, 12 June 2026 But here, in the strongest era of his leading man status, Caine is a dashing, moral, relentless badass who takes out an entire family of rich creeps. Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026 Fences and landscaping creeps can cause small misunderstandings that quickly grow into legal disputes. Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 June 2026 In the dead of night, a group of armed thieves creeps toward a locked vault. Olivia Potts, Longreads, 28 May 2026 Photos from the area showed cars slowly traveling through the floodwaters as water rises and creeps onto sidewalks in the area. Steven Yablonski, CBS News, 28 May 2026 That tight feeling that creeps in around Sunday afternoon — the one that turns a good weekend into a bracing countdown — has a name, and therapists say your Sunday schedule plays a bigger role in it than most people realize. Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Miami Herald, 27 May 2026 No doubt many creeps of the bracket were resented along the way. Kansas City Star, 24 May 2026
Verb
The look of elation that creeps over his face is a perfect encapsulation of everything that long-suffering Knicks fans were feeling when the ad aired. Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 16 June 2026 Humidity creeps back into the picture on Sunday with highs in the low 90s, increasing clouds and brisk southwest winds ahead of a strong cold front. Tammie Souza, CBS News, 13 June 2026 Cleary asks people to pay attention to which feelings keep surfacing and when—anger that flares every evening, say, or loneliness that creeps in at night. Angela Haupt, Time, 10 June 2026 When the temperature creeps above 90°F, light, airy fragrances are the move. Ariel Wodarcyk, InStyle, 6 June 2026 But danger creeps in, now that the heat has broken. Ava Wallace, New York Times, 1 June 2026 This is where over-reliance creeps in. Gregory Lipich, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026 Hesitation creeps in, options narrow and teams begin playing within themselves. Rick Burton, Sportico.com, 18 May 2026 Mira’s politics are still primarily shaped by her parents, but the culture creeps in. Anna Wiener, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for creeps
Noun
  • After Game 4, jerks were throwing things at Victor Wembanyama.
    Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 13 June 2026
  • Something from this article might put me on some Ben Shapiro list, where a bunch of jerks literally will just call me ‘f****t’ or worse on my social media.
    William Earl, Variety, 10 June 2026
Verb
  • Paglen’s ideas, collected between two covers, carve a clean, linear path through our messy neural era, engaging in the kind of big-picture sense-making that books remain well suited to do, even as AI encroaches on this terrain.
    Louis Bury, ARTnews.com, 1 May 2026
  • Meta, Anthropic and Apple all now use TPUs, as Google increasingly encroaches on a market cornered by Nvidia's graphics processing units.
    Katie Tarasov, CNBC, 20 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The camera lingers on the characters’ faces, trying to soak up their emotions and reactions.
    Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 17 June 2026
  • The European Commission froze billions of euros in funds for Hungary in response to democratic backsliding led by Orbán, and concern lingers about the damage that can be done when one unhappy government insists on wielding its veto.
    ABC News, ABC News, 15 June 2026
Verb
  • At sunset, the city starts glowing around you while traffic crawls silently below.
    Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 28 May 2026
  • Critics on the Croisette are starting to resemble that classic comic-strip panel in which an explorer crawls desperately across the sand toward an oasis that’s only a mirage.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2026
Verb
  • The rest of the film drags, the pacing falters, and the story inches toward a mediocre conclusion.
    Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 15 June 2026
  • Expectations of higher oil prices as the war drags on have kept long-term bond yields elevated, causing mortgage rates to mostly trend higher.
    Alex Veiga, Fortune, 12 June 2026
Noun
  • Bunch of virtue signaling clowns!
    Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 June 2026
  • The tumbles and trust falls might start to scare you, but this is hardly these clowns’ first rodeo.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 June 2026
Verb
  • In it, Grace can be seen playing a racing game while the Mallrats creator pokes fun at her driving skills.
    Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 1 June 2026
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander apparently isn’t amused by a new board game that pokes fun at the Oklahoma City Thunder star’s reputation for garnering foul calls at the hint of contact by an opposing player.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026
Verb
  • When a Knicks game lets out at the Garden or concertgoers from the Meadowlands pour out of Penn Station, crowds pack the Tick Tock’s orange-and-green banquettes and the line snakes out the door.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 June 2026
  • The River Caqueta snakes nearly 1,800 miles into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
    Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 27 May 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Creeps.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/creeps. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.

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