creeping

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body
  2. verb move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
  3. verb to go stealthily or furtively

Etymology

From Middle English crepynge, crepinde, crepende, crepande, from Old English crēopende, from Proto-Germanic *kreupandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to creep, crawl”), equivalent to creep + -ing.

In classic literature

Synonyms

crawl, crawling, creep

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