Creeps

Creeps is the plural form of creep, and may refer to several different concepts in everyday language and culture. In common usage, a creep is a person whose behavior feels unsettling or inappropriate, and the expression “the creeps” can describe a sense of fear or revulsion caused by a person or situation. The word can also describe slow or stealthy movement, such as when someone or something creeps forward.

In science and engineering, creep denotes time-dependent deformation of a material under constant load. The plural creeps is used when discussing creep behavior across different materials or environments, including metals, polymers, soils, and ice. Creep affects long-term dimensional stability and strength and is typically described in stages: primary, secondary (steady-state), and tertiary (accelerating toward failure).

In popular culture and gaming, creeps often refer to non-player units or enemies that traverse a path toward a goal, as seen in many strategy, action, or MOBA games. The term also appears in horror folklore and media through the related concept of creepypasta—short, user-generated horror stories circulated online. Collectively, creeps can describe unsettling persons, physical deformation processes, or fictional adversaries, depending on context.