How to Use creak in a Sentence

creak

1 of 2 verb
  • The porch roof creaked with the heavy weight of the snow.
  • The old floorboards creaked under our feet.
  • Nguyen is out on a long, creaking limb here.
    Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
  • That door that creaked open even though all of the windows were shut?
    Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE.com, 16 Oct. 2019
  • Old ships can have sewage and/or smoke issues and creak at all times.
    Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Sep. 2025
  • For a sofa, lift one end to be sure the frame doesn’t sag or creak.
    Washington Post, 3 May 2022
  • Our apartment’s dull brick walls changed to ones made of creaking stone.
    Elisabeth Thomas, refinery29.com, 12 May 2020
  • The birch trees creaked in the wind; the hills were unbroken white waves.
    Tatiana Schlossberg, Outside Online, 25 Mar. 2023
  • The aging boards still creak as people walk along the porch to the front door.
    Tom Henderson | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 21 Apr. 2022
  • Wooden floors creak at every step.
    Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Their muscles ached, their lungs heaved, their bodies creaked and groaned.
    Rory Smith, New York Times, 12 July 2018
  • The door creaked open, and she was struck by the sharp smell of rotting peaches.
    Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 2 Apr. 2018
  • This time of year, heat blurred the prairies and made the tall grass creak underfoot.
    David Grann, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2017
  • Walls creaked, tiles fell from the walls, glass objects shattered on the floor.
    Gustavo Ocando Alex, Miami Herald, 25 June 2026
  • If the piece is in good condition, the arm won’t wobble or creak.
    Washington Post, 3 May 2022
  • But over the coming weeks, many of these workplaces will creak slowly back to life.
    Emily Anthes, New York Times, 11 June 2021
  • The almost empty piece of aluminum echoed and creaked.
    Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Guests scrambled to stack chairs to brace the doors, and windows buckled and creaked.
    Grace Garces Bordallo and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Anchorage Daily News, 25 May 2023
  • Out of the box, the hinge squeaks and creaks, which doesn't inspire confidence.
    Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 13 Feb. 2020
  • Then, even the creaking sound of the piano pedal made it in the demo.
    Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 14 Dec. 2023
  • Your upstairs neighbor creaks across the ceiling.
    Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The cottonwoods creak amid the steady flow of the river, a dulcet tone in the desert.
    Erin Stone, azcentral, 3 Feb. 2020
  • With each step, wooden planks creak and moan as the bridge jiggles over rushing water.
    Evan Bush, The Seattle Times, 17 May 2017
  • The Cincinnati back line creaked and buckled, but never broke.
    Patrick Brennan, Cincinnati.com, 28 June 2017
  • The hour being now half past one, the doors of the Conciergerie would be creaking open.
    Bruce Dale, National Geographic, 17 Apr. 2019
  • The body creaked and flexed, and the hatch rattled regularly.
    Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 12 May 2020
  • With every bend and bump in the road, the wooden shelves inside the 27-year-old van creaked.
    Jen Fifield, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Mar. 2018
  • The searchers crest a hill where a derelict trailer creaks in the wind, then follow the slope down toward a clearing.
    Eric Ogden, Marie Claire, 10 June 2019
  • But what will happen when its windows grow dark, the paint starts to crumble, and its boards creak in the winter wind?
    Chaise Sanders, Country Living, 14 Sep. 2021
  • Today commuter lines are creaking, and more of the French accept the need for change.
    The Economist, 7 Apr. 2018

creak

2 of 2 noun
  • Maybe the ball didn’t know his age, but the creaks in his knees knew better.
    Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2023
  • The trees that are standing creak as the wind pushes them around.
    The New York Times, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2017
  • Fennell begins on a black screen and the sound of creaks and moans.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Like the slap of the waves and the creak of the masts, this was the sound of sailing.
    Andrea Sachs, Philly.com, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The creak of a hinge, the thrum of water running through the pipes.
    Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
  • There are at least no squeaks or creaks here, which is good, but the phone feels hollow.
    Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 2 Nov. 2017
  • The female body grows and slows, pimples and dimples, and leaks and creaks.
    Aly Viny, Cosmopolitan, 5 July 2017
  • That little creak, perhaps, is inviting them to speak freely.
    Veronique Greenwood, Discover Magazine, 13 Dec. 2011
  • In the forest, Tom is alert to every tick, creak, and snap from the canopy.
    Lizzie Pook, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Sep. 2022
  • The wooden deck creaks, the water fizzes, and the wind howls through the hood of my jacket.
    Matthew Bremner, Slate Magazine, 24 July 2017
  • The bird imitated the creak of the ship on the way over and for some time thereafter.
    National Geographic, 15 May 2016
  • An iceberg splits with the same yawning creak as a tree beginning its fall to earth.
    Greg Noone, Outside Online, 15 Oct. 2020
  • The only sound was the creak of their pedals, echoing off the facades.
    Caleb Crain, Harper's magazine, 22 July 2019
  • This tour will include creaks and cold spots and is not recommended for young souls.
    courant.com, 17 Oct. 2019
  • Play it at night, when every creak and thump from the overhead air ducts will scare the bejesus out of you.
    New York Times, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Always there’s noise — the creak of the shifting glacier, the push of the steady wind, the crack of trees snapping in the deep freeze.
    Laura Manske, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2021
  • The half-second pause after every punch-in is loaded, like the creak of the floor in a horror movie.
    Pitchfork, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Then Bowen began to hear his roof creak under the stress of roughly 6 feet of snow piled on top of his home.
    Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Whenever someone hears a floorboard creak, Michael's in the house.
    Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 9 Sep. 2021
  • The soundtrack brims with the gentle yet ceaseless splash of waves, the creak of wooden boats, the scrape of feet against dry, hard earth.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 July 2021
  • Sperm whales send out clicks and creaks, which bounce off of prey, allowing the whales to detect their dinner at a distance.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 17 Oct. 2023
  • As the jurors exited the courtroom, the only sound was the creak of the swinging gate.
    Stephanie Kuzydym, The Courier-Journal, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Occasionally, a creak or a loud cracking sound could be heard coming from the wrecked garage or the house.
    Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Prairie grasses and bonnet strings whip in the wind as the creak of wagon wheels carries across the rippling grassland.
    Alicia Underlee Nelson, Midwest Living, 22 June 2026
  • The creak of the tack and the warm vitality of the horse were profoundly familiar, even in this new place.
    Maggie Shipstead, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Feb. 2020
  • And unlike original examples of the model, there’s not a creak or rattle to be heard.
    Howard Walker, Robb Report, 19 Oct. 2023
  • Shaking them around does deliver an audible creak at times as well — not the most assuring sound.
    Jacob Krol, CNN Underscored, 22 Dec. 2020
  • Anxious moments are created from the slightest creaks of a floor, footsteps on sand or even a heartbeat.
    Mekado Murphy, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Life below deck is accompanied by the endless creak and groan of the ice pressing against the ships’ wooden hulls.
    Asher Elbein, The Atlantic, 1 May 2018
  • Hearing the house creak in the recordings was important, Auerbach said.
    Audrey Gibbs, USA Today, 1 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'creak.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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