different between creature vs dementor

English

Alternative forms

• creäture (archaic, chiefly literary and philosophy)

Etymology

From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin cre?t?ra, from cre?. Displaced native Old English ?es?eaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kr?'ch?, IPA^(key): /?k?i?t???/
• (General American) enPR: kr?'ch?r, IPA^(key): /?k?i?t????/
• (archaic) enPR: kr?.??tyo?or, IPA^(key): /k?i??e?tj??/
• Rhymes: -i?t??(?)

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. A living being; an animal.
   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?

2. (sometimes derogatory) A human.
3. (now rare, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
   • 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":

     Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:

     the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.
4. A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:

     they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.

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 Thesaurus:creature

Derived terms

• creatural
• creature comfort
• (from dialectal forms) critter, creetur, cratur, craythur

Related terms

Translations

References

• creature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• creature in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ecarteur

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ure

Noun

creature f

1. plural of creatura

Latin

Participle

cre?t?re

1. vocative masculine singular of cre?t?rus

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cre?t?ra.

Noun

creature f

1. creature, being

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: creatuur

Further reading

• “creature”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “creature”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French criature, creature, from Latin cre?t?ra; equivalent to createn +? -ure.

Alternative forms

• creatur, creatour, creatoure, creater, creture, crature, cryature, criature

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kr??a??tiu?r/, /kr??a?tiu?r/, /kr??a?tu?r/
• (reduced second syllable) IPA^(key): /kr???tiu?r/, /?kr???tiu?r/, /?kr??tur/
• (accented second syllable) IPA^(key): /kr??a?tiu?r/, /?kra?tiu?r/

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. Something that has been created; an entity or object.
2. A living being or creature; an animal or beast.
3. A human being (often as a term of self-abasement).
4. (rare) The whole world, the totality of existence.
5. (rare) The process of making or creation.

Descendants

• English: creature; critter; craytur
• Scots: creature, crayter

References

• “cr??t?re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-18.

Etymology 2

Noun

creature

1. Alternative form of creatour

Old French

Etymology

Late Latin cre?t?ra.

Noun

creature f (oblique plural creatures, nominative singular creature, nominative plural creatures)

1. creature; being; entity

Descendants

• Middle English: creature
• French: créature

English

Etymology

From the Latin adjective d?m?ns, from the verb d?ment?. Repopularized by the Harry Potter series.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??m?nt?/

Noun

dementor (plural dementors)

1. An evil and fearsome creature.
   • 1850, A pilgrimage to the land of my fathers, p. 423

     […] and by which a certain Rabbi, who was once annoyed by a demon that came to him in the shape of a woman, got rid of his dementor.

   • 2008, The Godmother, Carrie Adams, p. 242:

     […] it was protection against the anorexic dementor standing in front of me.

   • 2009, Dark Immortal, J.K. Coi, p. 172

     Diana needed to reconcile the Alric of now who pressed warm kisses to her temple, who touched her with such gentleness and showed her that he would protect her with his life, with the rage-filled dementor of her nightmares, the Alric she feared was still under the surface.

Translations

Anagrams

• entoderm, mentored, mordente

Latin

Verb

d?mentor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of d?ment?