informal
: an animal : creature sense 1
Most of her sublime illustrations involve hippos and pigs, which are appealing critters, especially when they have a few chocolate smudges around the mouth.—
People Weekly
People WeeklyWhen the wind is blowing just so, the field is set afire on three sides, and all manner of critters get flushed out of one end—snakes, possums, raccoons, and rabbits, lots of rabbits.—Alexander Wolff
Alexander WolffFlies, gnats, mosquitoes, ticks, mites and lice pester your horse year-round. If you ignore them, these critters can cause your equine friend months of misery.—Charlene Strickland
—sometimes used of a personCharlene StricklandSale admits that humans, being the relatively big-brained critters we are, cannot do without technology …—M. Kujawa
M. Kujawa
Examples of critter in a Sentence
The woods are filled with skunks, raccoons, and other critters.
she's so fond of every kind of critter that she ought to be a veterinarian
Recent Examples on the Web
He was headed to a special-interest-thon called TechNet Day, where Silicon Valley gets to speed-date with dozens of Congress critters to shape what the (uninvited) public will have to live with.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 12 Apr. 2024
Producers of the series, narrated by Tom Hanks, revealed how their team used cutting-edge technology to take viewers inside the lives of critters from across the continent.
—Liza Foreman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2024
The citizen project calls for observations from all sorts of environments, including cities with pigeons and squirrels, mountain ecosystems with woodland critters, farms with livestock, and more.
—Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 13 Mar. 2024
While some spiders in the Corinnidae, Thomisidae, and Zodariidae families also mimic ants, other spiders imitate wasps, beetles, and flies — an indication that there are plenty of menacing critters out there, even if spiders aren’t one of them.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 28 Mar. 2024
While the Florida panther has been Miller’s most epic wildlife encounter at the preserve, his favorite resident critters are the rattlesnakes.
—Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024
Besides organization, first-rate storage also keeps camping provisions and gear safe from critters and the elements.
—Kevin Brouillard, Travel + Leisure, 21 Feb. 2024
Not only do the fine webs spun by the eight-legged critters trap prey such as flies, the silken structures also are capturing environmental DNA.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 10 Feb. 2024
The critters were getting confused about what was happening.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Mar. 2024
Steven Levy, WIRED, 12 Apr. 2024
Producers of the series, narrated by Tom Hanks, revealed how their team used cutting-edge technology to take viewers inside the lives of critters from across the continent.
—Liza Foreman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2024
The citizen project calls for observations from all sorts of environments, including cities with pigeons and squirrels, mountain ecosystems with woodland critters, farms with livestock, and more.
—Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 13 Mar. 2024
While some spiders in the Corinnidae, Thomisidae, and Zodariidae families also mimic ants, other spiders imitate wasps, beetles, and flies — an indication that there are plenty of menacing critters out there, even if spiders aren’t one of them.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 28 Mar. 2024
While the Florida panther has been Miller’s most epic wildlife encounter at the preserve, his favorite resident critters are the rattlesnakes.
—Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024
Besides organization, first-rate storage also keeps camping provisions and gear safe from critters and the elements.
—Kevin Brouillard, Travel + Leisure, 21 Feb. 2024
Not only do the fine webs spun by the eight-legged critters trap prey such as flies, the silken structures also are capturing environmental DNA.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 10 Feb. 2024
The critters were getting confused about what was happening.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'critter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
by alteration
First Known Use
1815, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to critter
Dictionary Entries Near critter
Cite this Entry
“Critter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/critter. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share