Creep vs. Creeper — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on May 21, 2024
Creep typically refers to a person who behaves in an unsettling or intrusive way, whereas a creeper can mean someone who sneaks up or moves stealthily, or it can refer to a plant that grows along the ground or climbs surfaces.
Difference Between Creep and Creeper
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Creep is commonly used to describe someone whose behavior is off-putting or makes others feel uncomfortable. This term often has a negative connotation and is used in social contexts to label someone who invades personal space or acts inappropriately. On the other hand, a creeper can refer to both a person and an object. When describing a person, it can mean someone who sneaks around or moves quietly and suspiciously.
Creep, in social slang, can also denote a feeling of unease, as in "giving someone the creeps." This figurative usage emphasizes the unsettling impact someone's behavior can have. Creeper, however, does not carry this figurative sense when referring to a person.
Creeper plants, like ivy, are known for their ability to cover surfaces over time. The growth pattern of these plants is slow and steady, paralleling the subtle, incremental nature of how "creep" is sometimes used to describe gradual changes or movements.
Comparison Chart
Part of Speech
Noun, Verb
Noun
Human Behavior
Unsettling, inappropriate actions
Sneaky, stealthy actions
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Botanical Context
Not applicable
Climbing or ground-covering plant
Figurative Usage
Describes subtle, negative change
Not commonly used figuratively
Common Usage
Social and informal contexts
Both botanical and informal
Compare with Definitions
Creep
A person who behaves in a creepy, unsettling manner.
The man standing in the corner gave everyone the creeps.
Creeper
A plant that grows along the ground or climbs surfaces.
The garden wall was covered in ivy and other creepers.
Creep
An uncomfortable feeling of fear or unease.
That abandoned house gives me the creeps.
Creeper
A child's crawling position.
The baby was a little creeper, exploring the floor.
Creep
Move slowly and carefully in order to avoid being heard or noticed
He crept downstairs, hardly making any noise
They were taught how to creep up on an enemy
Creeper
A low-cut shoe.
She wore creepers with her retro outfit.
Creep
(of a negative characteristic or fact) occur or develop gradually and almost imperceptibly
Errors crept into his game
Creeper
One that moves or progresses by creeping.
Creep
A detestable person
I thought he was a nasty little creep
Creeper
(Botany) A plant that spreads by means of stems that creep.
Creep
Slow steady movement, especially when imperceptible
An attempt to prevent this slow creep of costs
Creeper
See cradle.
Creep
An opening in a hedge or wall for an animal to pass through
Low in the wall are creeps, through which ewes gain access to grazing from the pastures behind
Creeper
A grappling device for dragging bodies of water, such as lakes or rivers.
Creep
Solid food given to young farm animals in order to wean them
We've started to wean the lambs earlier and to keep them on creep
Creeper
A one-piece fitted garment for an infant.
Creep
To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees.
Creeper
Creepers A metal frame with a spike or spikes, attached to a shoe or boot to prevent slipping, especially on ice.
Creep
To move stealthily or cautiously.
Creeper
(Slang) A person who is a creep, especially one who is considered to be unsettling.
Creep
To move or proceed very slowly
Traffic creeps at that hour.
Creeper
A person or a thing that crawls or creeps.
Creep
To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.
Creeper
A one-piece garment for infants designed to facilitate access to the wearer's diaper.
Creep
To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.
Creeper
A device which allows a small child to safely roam around a room from a seated or standing position.
Creep
To slip out of place; shift gradually.
Creeper
A metal plate with spikes, designed to be worn with shoes to prevent slipping.
Creep
To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily
A moan that made my flesh creep.
Creeper
A spur-like device strapped to the boot to facilitate climbing.
Creep
The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.
Creeper
A small low iron, or dog, between the andirons.
Creep
(Slang) An annoyingly unpleasant, unsettling, or repulsive person.
Creeper
An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dredging up items from a well or other water.
Creep
A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.
Creeper
Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, such as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.
Creep
A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.
Creeper
Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping, especially a climbing plant of the genus Parthenocissus.
Creep
A usually unplanned and gradual shift or increase in uses or objectives away from what was originally specified or limited. Often used in combination
The function creep of using social security numbers for general identification purposes.
Mission creep from a military peacekeeping role to one of providing economic development.
Creeper
A treecreeper.
Creep
(Geology) The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.
Creeper
Strophitus undulatus, a freshwater mussel of the eastern United States.
Creep
Creeps Informal A sensation of fear or repugnance, as if things were crawling on one's skin
That house gives me the creeps.
Creeper
(nautical) A small four-hooked grapnel used to recover objects dropped onto the sea bed.
Creep
(intransitive) To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
Creeper
The lowest gear of a tractor or truck.
Creep
To grow across a surface rather than upwards.
Creeper
A low-profile wheeled platform whereupon an auto mechanic may lie on their back and gain better access to the underbody of a vehicle.
Creep
(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.
Creeper
A person who creeps people out; a creepy person.
Don't go to a nightclub to find a boyfriend. They're all creepers there.
Creep
(intransitive) To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
Prices have been creeping up all year.
Creeper
A kind of shoe, usually with a suede upper and a thick crepe sole, associated with various 20th-century subcultures.
Creep
To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
Old age creeps upon us.
Creeper
(cricket) A ball that travels low, near ground level.
Creep
To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.
The quicksilver on a mirror may creep.
Creeper
One who, or that which, creeps; any creeping thing.
Standing waters are most unwholesome, . . . full of mites, creepers; slimy, muddy, unclean.
Creep
To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
A creeping sycophant.
Creeper
A plant that clings by rootlets, or by tendrils, to the ground, or to trees, etc.; as, the Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia).
Creep
To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
The sight made my flesh creep.
Creeper
A small bird of the genus Certhia, allied to the wrens. The brown or common European creeper is Certhia familiaris, a variety of which (var. Americana) inhabits America; - called also tree creeper and creeptree. The American black and white creeper is Mniotilta varia.
Creep
To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
Creeper
A kind of patten mounted on short pieces of iron instead of rings; also, a fixture with iron points worn on a shoe to prevent one from slipping.
Creep
To covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with.
Creeper
A spurlike device strapped to the boot, which enables one to climb a tree or pole; - called often telegraph creepers.
Creep
The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).
Creeper
A small, low iron, or dog, between the andirons.
Creep
A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
Creeper
An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dragging at the bottom of a well, or any other body of water, and bringing up what may lie there.
Creep
A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.
Creeper
Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.
Creep
(uncountable) The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
Christmas creep
Feature creep
Instruction creep
Mission creep
Creeper
Crockets. See Crocket.
Creep
(publishing) In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.
Creeper
Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping
Creep
(materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
Creeper
A person who crawls or creeps along the ground
Creep
(geology) The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
Creeper
Any of various small insectivorous birds of the northern hemisphere that climb about on trees
Creep
Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric.
Creeper
A person who moves stealthily or sneakily.
He felt like a creeper, sneaking around the house at night.
Creep
A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills.
Stop following me, you creep!
Creeper
A small, wheeled platform used by mechanics.
The mechanic slid under the car on a creeper.
Creep
(agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
Creep
To move along the ground, or on any other surface, on the belly, as a worm or reptile; to move as a child on the hands and knees; to crawl.
Ye that walkThe earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep.
Creep
To move slowly, feebly, or timorously, as from unwillingness, fear, or weakness.
The whining schoolboy . . . creeping, like snail,Unwillingly to school.
Like a guilty thing, I creep.
Creep
To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or one's self; as, age creeps upon us.
The sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument.
Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women.
Creep
To slip, or to become slightly displaced; as, the collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying; the quicksilver on a mirror may creep.
Creep
To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn; as, a creeping sycophant.
To come as humbly as they used to creep.
Creep
To grow, as a vine, clinging to the ground or to some other support by means of roots or rootlets, or by tendrils, along its length.
Creep
To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
Creep
The act or process of creeping.
Creep
A distressing sensation, or sound, like that occasioned by the creeping of insects.
A creep of undefinable horror.
Out of the stillness, with gathering creep,Like rising wind in leaves.
Creep
A slow rising of the floor of a gallery, occasioned by the pressure of incumbent strata upon the pillars or sides; a gradual movement of mining ground.
Creep
Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric
Creep
A slow longitudinal movement or deformation
Creep
A pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot
Creep
A slow creeping 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
Creep
Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground;
The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed
Creep
To go stealthily or furtively;
..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house
Creep
Grow in such a way as to cover (a building, for example);
Ivy grew over the walls of the university buildings
Creep
Show submission or fear
Creep
A slow, steady movement.
The creep of the glacier was imperceptible.
Creep
The gradual progress of something.
The creep of the shadow indicated the setting sun.
Creep
A slight, slow movement of soil or rock.
The hill showed signs of soil creep after heavy rain.
Common Curiosities
What is a creeper in botanical terms?
A plant that grows along the ground or climbs surfaces.
What is a common usage of 'creep' in everyday language?
Describing someone with unsettling behavior.
Do 'creep' and 'creeper' share any similarities?
Both can describe subtle, stealthy movements.
What does 'creep' mean when referring to a person?
A person whose behavior is unsettling or inappropriate.
Is 'creeper' used to describe a person?
Yes, it can refer to someone who moves stealthily.
Does 'creeper' have a figurative meaning?
Not commonly; it mostly refers to literal sneaky movements or plants.
Can 'creeper' refer to something other than a person or plant?
Yes, it can also refer to a child's crawling position or a mechanic's tool.
Can 'creep' be used as a verb?
Yes, it means to move slowly and quietly.
What does 'give someone the creeps' mean?
To make someone feel uneasy or scared.
Can 'creep' refer to geological phenomena?
Yes, it can describe the slow movement of soil or rock.
Is 'creeper' used in any particular professions?
Yes, in mechanics to describe a wheeled platform.
What is the figurative use of 'creep'?
It describes a slow, often undesirable, change or progress.
How is 'creep' used in social contexts?
To describe someone who makes others feel uncomfortable.
Are there specific plants known as creepers?
Yes, such as ivy and morning glories.
Is 'creep' always negative?
Often, but it can also describe neutral or literal slow movements.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
