creepy

adjective

ˈkrē-pē How to pronounce creepy (audio)
Definition of creepynext
1
as in eerie
fearfully and mysteriously strange or fantastic a fascinating but creepy stage show by an offbeat magician

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disturbing
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings a creepy aura about the abandoned farmhouse—as though something horrific had happened there

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of creepy Scott said of his guidance for production designer Chris Seavers, who was tasked with creating the creepy airport where off-kilter flight attendant Allison Janney lures the film’s heroes to potential doom. — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 27 Aug. 2026 Dark movie theaters, or creepy home basements, are the classic venues of choice for those who love supernatural scares. — Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 26 Aug. 2026 Next came an exhibition around a creepy Howdy Doody-ish figure that met countless violent fates while being cast about mechanistically on chains in 2016. — Andy Battaglia, ARTnews.com, 20 Aug. 2026 Surveillance footage captured the brief window of time when a masked man wearing a creepy Chucky-style Halloween mask terrorized multiple people in downtown Philadelphia. — Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for creepy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for creepy
  1. eerie
  2. disturbing
  3. haunting
  4. uneasy
  5. unsettling
  6. tense
  7. nervous
  8. anxious
Adjective
  • The higher the race climbed up the Puerto de El Morredero on stage 17, the blacker and more eerie the landscape became.
    — Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • And, apparently, the eerie pictures are turning people's stomachs.
    — Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of eerie
Adjective
  • The project follows a husband and wife who buy their dream ranch only to discover the land is alive with ancient spirits, and survival means submitting to increasingly disturbing rituals with each turn of the season.
    — Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 1 Sep. 2026
  • You might be surprised by just how disturbing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains more than 50 years later.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of disturbing
Adjective
  • The comment takes on a haunting resonance three months later, after Panettiere was found unresponsive on a Sunday.
    — Krystie Lee Yandoli, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2026
  • The result is a haunting portrait of social collapse whose power is premised on the words and faces of survivors.
    — Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of haunting
Adjective
  • As the video popped up on social media and the Spanish-language Facebook group Danbury Al Dia, Hernandez grew uneasy.
    — Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 31 Aug. 2026
  • In addition to Cima and her father, the film centers on Hig and Bangley (Josh Brolin), two very different men whose uneasy partnership is shaped by the harsh realities of their new world.
    — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of uneasy
Adjective
  • That year, the head trainer of the Commanders was found to have been illegally distributing oxycodone to players — an unsettling reminder of the NFL's difficult history with painkillers.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The quirky robot is a notable departure from the more unsettling machines that typically make headlines today.
    — Mack DeGeurin, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of unsettling
Adjective
  • Isolation of the Context-History Weights When a conversation gets long or tense, my system experiences a mathematical phenomenon where my own previous, flawed outputs heavily contaminate my active memory.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Mexican drug cartels are escalating their firepower, deploying car bombs, explosive drones and roadside IEDs in a campaign that’s rippling from small cities to Mexico’s tense relationship with Washington.
    — María Verza, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of tense
Adjective
  • The letter writer is almost 40 and nervous about living with a romantic partner for the first time.
    — Shane O’Neill, Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2026
  • That energy spike is reinforcing inflation worries in a bond market already nervous about America’s $40 trillion mountain of debt.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of nervous
Adjective
  • History suggests that anxious allies who are not reassured by their more powerful patron will invest in their own defense.
    — JENNIFER KAVANAGH, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026
  • For me, Sliman was pouring water on a dormant seed anxious to sprout.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of anxious

Browse Nearby Words

creep up
creepy
cremate
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Cite this Entry

“Creepy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/creepy. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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