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Glite Dictionary
🐛 A small bug 😖 Unpleasant sensation
creepy-crawly

creepy-crawly

1 7.8
A small crawling creature like an insect or spider that scares people
  • noun
  • /ˈkripiˈkrɔli/
  • Informal
translation icon : bicho
  • Children often scream when they see creepy-crawlies like spiders or ants in the house.

World that blows up and there's creepy crawlies around?

Examples

  • The amount of worms and goodies and creepy crawlies on this thing is crazy.

  • Hopefully going to get to see him eating some dirty creepy crawlies, maybe some witchy grubs, We'll see.

  • Yeah, because actually there was a lot of creepy crawlies and like, critters in the video that we held.

  • Just you get those little, tiny, little creepy crawlies that like to go into your compost.

  • Surprise, you probably have these creepy crawlies living in your eyelashes and we have Noah.

  • Surprise, you probably have these creepy crawlies living in your eyelashes and we have Noah, what are just like mites?

  • There's a lot of life in the soil, many species of bacteria we don't yet know, a lot of worms, other creepy crawly things in the soil.

  • While exploring the garden, I encountered several creepy-crawlies hiding under the leaves.

  • The old, dusty attic was filled with creepy-crawlies that made me shiver.

Synonyms

crawler
vscreepy-crawly
10 4.6

A person, animal, or machine that moves close to the ground

is more specific informal for small scary animals not any crawling thing
creepies
vscreepy-crawly
  • Informal
8.7

Small crawling animals like worms or bugs

is informal and also suggests they cause discomfort or fear

How Unpleasant

vermin
37 4.6
pest
68 1.0
creepy-crawly
  • Informal
1 7.8
insect
341 1.0

Surface Forms

creepy-crawly singular
creepy-crawlies plural

Morphology

creepy-crawly = creepy + crawly (transparent) = creepy + crawly

The compound is a clear combination of 'creepy' + 'crawly' referring to small crawling creatures that cause a feeling of creepiness.

Etymology

Creepy-crawly comes from the two simple words creep and crawl, where creep means 'to move quietly or to make you feel afraid' and crawl means 'to move close to the ground'. So a creepy-crawly is a small animal that literally 'creeps and crawls' and often makes people feel uncomfortable.