1
as in encroached
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits
water crept slowly over the top of the tub and onto the floor
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in lingered
to move or act slowly
that Friday afternoon we were just creeping, waiting for the bell to sound so that we could start the long weekend
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in crawled
to move slowly with the body close to the ground
the kitten crept silently across the floor before suddenly pouncing on the mouse
Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in dragged
to move slowly
the class hour seems to creep by
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of crept
The wildfires ignited Tuesday as a monsoonal storm crept north across the state, unleashing more than 9,000 lightning strikes, according to Cal Fire.
—
Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, surged 15% on Tuesday as jitters crept back onto Wall Street.
—John Towfighi, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Complacency has not crept in following Osula’s 24-minute cameo on Monday, with a striker — deemed to be a successor to Wilson, not to Isak — still top of the agenda.
—Chris Waugh, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025
At a rehearsal, Reich suggested that a pianist play constant eighth-note C’s, to keep the musicians together—providing the work with its buoyant, unifying pulse, which soon crept into Reich’s own music and came to emblematize musical minimalism.
—William Robin, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2025
But as New Orleans crept closer to becoming the country's first all-charter system in the 2010s, the handful of traditional schools left, including Bethune Elementary, started feeling more pressure.
—Aubri Juhasz, NPR, 25 Aug. 2025
But soon, a faint tightness crept into his left foot.
—Jordan Greene, People.com, 22 Aug. 2025
The neighborhood drug dealing and violence eventually crept all the way up to the family's front porch, where one of her uncles was fatally shot, just seven months after her grandmother died.
—Brad Schmitt, The Tennessean, 21 Aug. 2025
In the following days, thoughts of suicide crept in.
—Tresa Baldas, Freep.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, surged 15% on Tuesday as jitters crept back onto Wall Street.
—John Towfighi, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Complacency has not crept in following Osula’s 24-minute cameo on Monday, with a striker — deemed to be a successor to Wilson, not to Isak — still top of the agenda.
—Chris Waugh, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025
At a rehearsal, Reich suggested that a pianist play constant eighth-note C’s, to keep the musicians together—providing the work with its buoyant, unifying pulse, which soon crept into Reich’s own music and came to emblematize musical minimalism.
—William Robin, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2025
But as New Orleans crept closer to becoming the country's first all-charter system in the 2010s, the handful of traditional schools left, including Bethune Elementary, started feeling more pressure.
—Aubri Juhasz, NPR, 25 Aug. 2025
But soon, a faint tightness crept into his left foot.
—Jordan Greene, People.com, 22 Aug. 2025
The neighborhood drug dealing and violence eventually crept all the way up to the family's front porch, where one of her uncles was fatally shot, just seven months after her grandmother died.
—Brad Schmitt, The Tennessean, 21 Aug. 2025
In the following days, thoughts of suicide crept in.
—Tresa Baldas, Freep.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crept
Verb
-
The ads have now encroached into social media without proper disclosures with many online pharmacies not following the same rules that many pharmaceutical companies follow, a senior White House official said.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
9 Sep. 2025
-
From the deadly 2025 Los Angeles fires to the devastating 2019-2020 Australian bushfires and the 2018 wildfire in Athens, Greece, flames have increasingly encroached upon human settlements, claiming lives and livelihoods.—
Seyd Teymoor Seydi,
The Conversation,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
That alone is enough to extinguish whatever lingered from Tuesday night’s debacle.—
Chandler Rome,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
-
That heavy drinking in the early days of the breakup is briefly discussed but not lingered upon.—
Caleb Hammond,
IndieWire,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
On Wednesday, a similar scene closely followed as the funeral procession for Kansas City, Kansas, police officer Hunter Simoncic crawled along through the highways and streets in the community Simoncic worked to keep safe.—
Emily Curiel,
Kansas City Star,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Eby crawled across a ladder over the water to the vehicle, then crawled back with the child on his back, the video shows.—
Don Sweeney,
Sacbee.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
His life was going nowhere, until his brother Scott dragged him off the couch and convinced Dean to sign up with his acting coach, Bill Esper.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Mitchell was then dragged outside to the valet area, and a female Hyatt employee grabbed a broomstick and struck Mitchell with it.—
Chris Ramirez,
jsonline.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Next, a series of lawsuits delayed construction.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
9 Sep. 2025
-
New natural gas plants are being delayed until the 2030s because of a 50-month backlog for natural gas turbines, and new nuclear power plants can take more than a decade to get off the ground.—
Brian Deese,
Foreign Affairs,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Putts that had been falling slid past the cup.—
Zach Sweet,
Kansas City Star,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Tagovailoa slid to his right to buy time and was targeting slot receiver Malik Washington on the third-and-3 pass Latu jumped in front of.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Budget cuts are about to bring big changes to San Diego’s 37 neighborhood library branches — including shorter hours, shuffled staff and rescheduled activities.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Over the past two months, he’s been shuffled through three detention centers despite attempts to pay a bond set by the immigration judge.—
Ashleigh Fields,
The Hill,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
The post, which shared several photos from the outing, also poked fun at the couple getting caught in the rain while meeting with schoolchildren at the museum.—
Stephanie Petit,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
-
While some people argued that the photo was degrading to women, Carpenter stood by the photo and poked fun at the controversy while sharing alternate album covers.—
Katherine Schaffstall,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Crept.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crept. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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