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TOEFL IELTS BNC: 4156 COCA: 5099
creep
verb [I] /kriːp/
present tense
I/you/we/theycreep
he/she/itcreeps
present participlecreeping
past tensecrept
past participlecrept
  1. 1
    if someone creeps somewhere, they move there quietly and slowly 悄悄缓慢地走

    I crept downstairs when everyone was asleep. 每个人都睡着后,我蹑手蹑脚地下了楼。

    She crept quietly into bed. 她蹑手蹑脚地溜上床。

     Synonyms and related words
    To move quietly: pad, sneak, slink...
     Synonyms and related words
    1. a.
      if someone's arm or hand creeps somewhere, it moves quietly and slowly (手臂或手)悄无声息地慢慢移动

      His arm crept around her shoulder. 他的手臂悄悄揽住了她的肩。

      A little hand crept across the table and touched my arm. 一只小手从桌子对面伸过来碰了碰我的手臂。

       Synonyms and related words
      To move quietly: pad, sneak, slink...
    2. b.
      if something such as fire, the sun, or fog creeps somewhere, it moves slowly (火)蔓延;(太阳)照进;(雾)弥漫开

      The flames were creeping along the corridor behind him. 火苗在他身后沿着走廊蔓延开来。

      I watched the sunlight creep across the window. 我看着太阳光透过窗户照进来。

      As dusk crept in, lights came on. 随着黄昏的到来,灯都亮了起来。

       Synonyms and related words
    3. c.
      if a vehicle creeps somewhere, it moves very slowly (车辆)缓慢行进

      The traffic kept creeping forwards a few inches and then stopping. 车流总是缓慢地往前移动几英寸,然后又停下来。

       Synonyms and related words
    See also flesh
  2. 2
    if an expression or colour creeps into someone's face, it gradually appears there (表情或颜色)逐渐浮现
    creep across/into :

    A little smile crept across her mouth. 一丝微笑渐渐浮现在她的嘴角。

    A scarlet flush was creeping into her cheeks. 她的双颊渐渐染上一抹绯红。

     Synonyms and related words
    1. a.
      if an emotion or feeling creeps somewhere, someone gradually starts to experience it (感情或感觉)渐渐出现
      creep in/into/across :

      Suspicion began to creep into her mind. 她心里开始怀疑起来。

      She felt a tingling sensation creep across the back of her neck. 她感到后脖子一阵刺痛。

       Synonyms and related words
creep
noun /kriːp/
singularcreep
pluralcreeps
  1. 1
    [C] informal an unpleasant person, especially someone who tries to please or impress people in authority 讨厌的人;(尤指)卑躬屈膝的人

    I thought he was a nasty little creep. 我觉得他是个奴颜婢膝的小人。

     Synonyms and related words
  2. 2
    [U] a slow and gradual change or movement 渐变;缓行
    +of :

    Something that all drivers experience is the gradual creep of the development of bad habits.

    the inevitable creep of urban sprawl

     Synonyms and related words
    Changes: effect, change, trend...
     Synonyms and related words
    Slow and gradual movements: crawl, climb, trickle...
  3. 3
    [singular] used after some other nouns to describe the unexpected and often unwanted effects of a particular situation or trend

    Tailored content is fuelling commercialism, consumption and ad creep on every single morsel of media.

    Global warming is causing measurable season creep worldwide.

     Synonyms and related words
    Unpleasant results and effects: repercussion, shock wave, fallout...

creep

noun combining form

used with other nouns to describe the unexpected and often unwanted effects of a particular situation or trend

'Parkinson also reportedly said Australians could expect to be taxed more …, and that by next year the average earner was likely find themselves in the second-highest tax bracket because of the current rate of bracket creep.'

The Guardian 22nd August 2014

'Ad Creep Hits the Water With Floating Billboards on Lakes … Only an ad executive would look out on Lake Washington in Seattle and realize, as he drove away, that "there were no billboards". And then decide to put 14-foot-tall inflatable placards out on the water.'

Adweek 21st May 2012

Media coverage of the 2014 Australian budget included repeated references to a phenomenon known as bracket creep – a situation in which inflation pushes average incomes into higher tax brackets. Though bracket creep had unfortunate consequences for Australian pockets and purchasing power, the term itself highlights an interesting example of word formation which is yet to be widely acknowledged in mainstream dictionaries.

the word creep … often seems to convey the idea of unexpected, often negative developments which can spiral out of control

The word creep conventionally conjures up images of a person moving around very quietly for fear of disturbing others or, in its noun use, of an individual who's annoyingly keen to impress someone in authority. But there's an alternative use of creep which has been around for some time now, quietly gaining momentum in a wide range of contexts. The second citation above gives a further example of this in the expression ad creep, which has been used for several years to describe the increased tendency for advertising to pop up in unconventional spaces – from the walls of public conveniences to pieces of fruit. A similar concept underpins the term Christmas creep, which will immediately make sense to you if you've ever rolled your eyes at the appearance of Christmas cards and other glittery paraphernalia appearing in the shops as early as August or September! Moving over to the environmental domain, it's possible in recent times that you might have come across the expression season creep, which refers to the growing tendency for seasons to be milder and not change as abruptly or regularly as they once did – a situation thought to be caused by global warming.

And yet more kinds of ' creep' exist too, such as feature creep – a term currently used in software development to describe the tendency to add more and more features to a product in an attempt to keep up with competitors (but in doing so actually producing something less efficient). On a similar theme, there's also the more generic function creep – when an item or procedure designed for a specific purpose ends up serving another purpose for which it wasn't intended. Back in the financial domain, though thankfully short-lived, there was also once talk of crunch creep – describing the unexpected social and economic consequences of 2008's financial downturn (aka credit crunch). And the most established of all ' creeps', an expression which does seem to have found its way into printed record is mission creep – referring to the expansion of a project or task beyond its original goals, especially where this has negative consequences.

The existence of these wide-ranging examples would seem to suggest then that, in the early 21st century, the word creep has taken on a new life as a highly productive combining form. Its precise meaning is tricky to pin down, since it's very closely linked to the word it combines with, but it often seems to convey the idea of unexpected, often negative developments which can spiral out of control.

Background – creep

The word creep's journey into productive use as a combining form was kicked off by the expression mission creep, first used in 1993 in the context of the United Nations peacekeeping mission during the Somali Civil War. Though initially applied exclusively in military contexts, mission creep gradually became used in a variety of other fields and took on a more generic meaning as outlined above, though many dictionaries still include military references when defining the term.


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