create

kree-AYT/kɹiːˈeɪt/

8 meanings of create

1
verbtransitive
To bring something new into existence, or to make it by giving existing materials or ideas a new form.
Engineers create new alloys by blending metals in precise proportions.
The designer created a chair from recycled ocean plastic.
UsageOften create something from or out of materials: created a chair from recycled plastic.
Similarmake, produce, develop, invent, form
Oppositedestroy
Note
The everyday, human-scale making: a couturier's garments, a nation's shipping hub, a designer's chair. Its opposites include imitate as well as annihilate, which shows that what counts here is originality as much as existence. To copy a design is not to create it, even when real materials are shaped in the process.
2
lead toverbtransitive
To cause something intangible (such as a situation, feeling, or effect) to come about through an action, behavior, or event.
Poor communication can create confusion within a team.
The new policy created uncertainty for small businesses.
UsageCommon pairings: create confusion, create tension, create problems, create a sense of something.
Similarcause, produce, generate, breed, sow
3
use imaginationverbintransitive
To engage in imaginative or original activity; to do creative work.
Great artists must create, even when no one is watching.
He feels most alive when he is free to create.
UsageOften after love, need or be free to: free to create.
Note
Here the verb drops its object and names the activity itself: the making matters more than what gets made.
4
from nothingverbtransitive
To bring something into existence out of nothing, without any pre-existing materials or elements.
According to the text, a divine being can create matter from nothing.
The myth describes how the gods created the universe from a void.
UsageOften create something out of nothing or from nothing.
Similarmake, generate
Oppositedestroy, annihilate
Note
Here the verb belongs to theology: making with no material at all, which is usually said of a god. Its classic setting is the opening of Genesis, which the Geneva Bible of 1560 renders as "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Outside religious and mythic writing, the verb usually means making from existing materials instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Creation without pre-existing material is a theological interpretation of the opening of Genesis. en.wikisource.org
The Geneva Bible was a collaborative translation. Whittingham is credited with its New Testament; its Old Testament was translated by a group headed by Anthony Gilby. gruber.lstc.edu
The translation was published in 1560. en.wikisource.org
The quoted opening of Genesis matches the Geneva Bible in modernized spelling. asu.pressbooks.pub

Less common meanings

5
give a titleverbtransitive
To confer a noble rank or title on someone; to formally appoint or constitute in an office.
The crown may create peers to fill seats in the upper house.
The sovereign created her a baroness in recognition of her work.
UsageTakes the person and then the title (created her a baroness), or is used in the passive (was created cardinal).
Similarmake, appoint, ennoble
Note
A ceremonial use with unusual grammar: the verb names both the person and the dignity, as in "Henry VIII created him a duke." Marlowe's Tamburlaine already uses the construction: "Create him Prorex of Affrica."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The Henry VIII sentence is an illustrative example of this construction. en.wiktionary.org
Christopher Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine. en.wikipedia.org
Tamburlaine contains the quoted construction and wording; the speaker is Cosroe in Part One, Act I, scene i. emed.folger.edu
6
first actorverbtransitive
To be the first performer of a role, originating a character in a play, musical, or opera.
Few singers ever get the chance to create a role in an opera's very first production.
The actress created the role of Eliza in the original production.
UsageUsually create a role or create the part of a character.
Similaroriginate
Note
A theater usage in which the object is a role rather than a thing. A performer creates a part by being the first to play it, and later performers take it over. The verb belongs to the original production only: an actress creates Eliza once, and every revival afterward simply plays her.
7
having been madeadjectiveobsolete
Brought into existence through an act of creation; resulting from having been created.
Hearts create of duty and zeal.
1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”
Before me things create were none, save things / Eternal, and eternal I endure. / All hope abandon ye who enter here. [Inscription on the gate of Hell.]
1814, Dante Alighieri, The Vision
Note
An adjective that mirrors the Latin participle creātus, with no -ed ending. It follows its noun: Shakespeare's Henry V has "hearts create of duty and of zeal," and Henry Francis Cary still uses it in 1814 for the inscription on Dante's gate of Hell, "things create were none."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The adjective create corresponds to Latin creātus and lacks an -ed ending. en.wiktionary.org
Create follows the noun it modifies in the cited examples. en.wiktionary.org
Shakespeare's Henry V contains the quoted wording; Grey speaks it in Act II, scene ii. folger.edu
Cary translates the inscription on Dante's gate of Hell using the words things create were none. en.wiktionary.org
8
verbcolloquialUK
To make a fuss or complain noisily; to shout in protest.
'What's the time?' she said. 'I must fly. Miss'll start creating.'
1972, H. E. Bates, The Song of the Wren

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English createn, from Latin creātus, the past participle of creō; its -ate is the ending of verbs formed on such Latin participles. In this sense it largely replaced Old English wyrċan (which became work) and ġesċieppan, a form of the verb that became shape.