What is the difference between creature and animal?
creature | animal |
A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
* 1633 , (John Donne), "Sapho to Philænis":
* 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , I.10:
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 A living being; an animal or human.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
* 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom , Oxford 2003, p. 240:
*
*
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In scientific usage, a multicellular organism that is usually mobile, whose cells are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing it from plants and fungi) and which derives energy solely from the consumption of other organisms (distinguishing it from plants).
In non-scientific usage, any member of the kingdom Animalia other than a human being.
In non-scientific usage, any land-living vertebrate (i.e. not birds, fishes, insects etc.).
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title= (figuratively) A person who behaves wildly; a bestial, brutal, brutish, cruel, or inhuman person.
(informal) A person of a particular type.
Of or relating to animals.
Raw, base, unhindered by social codes.
Pertaining to the spirit or soul; relating to sensation or innervation.
* 2003', To explain what activated the flesh, ‘'''animal spirits’ were posited, superfine fluids which shuttled between the mind and the vitals, conveying messages and motion. — Roy Porter, ''Flesh in the Age of Reason (Penguin 2004, p. 47)
(slang, Ireland) Excellent.
Animal is a synonym of creature.
As nouns the difference between creature and animal
is that creature is a created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation while animal is in scientific usage, a multicellular organism that is usually mobile, whose cells are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing it from plants and fungi) and which derives energy solely from the consumption of other organisms (distinguishing it from plants).As an adjective animal is
of or relating to animals.creature
English
Alternative forms
*Noun
(en noun)- Thoughts, my mindes creatures , often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.
- the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature .
citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature , and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.}}
Obama goes troll-hunting, passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}
- 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 . * 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 alsoDerived terms
* creature comfortReferences
animal
English
(wikipedia animal)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), a nominal use of an adjective from (m), neuter of (m), from ).Noun
(en noun)Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
Synonyms
* (organism) beast, creature * (non-human organism) beast * (person who behaves wildly) brute, monster, savageHyponyms
* See alsoEtymology 2
From (etyl) animalis, from either or animus. Originally distinct from the noun, it became associated with attributive use of the noun and is now indistinguishable from it.Adjective
(-)- animal instincts
- animal passions