creative meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

creative

adj

/kɹiˈeɪtɪv/

Etymology Borrowed from Late Latin creativus, from Latin creō. Equivalent to create + -ive. Displaced native Old English orþanclīċ.

Tending to create things, or having the ability to create; often, excellently, in a novel fashion, or any or all of these.

a creative dramatist who avoids cliche
The future belongs to those aware enough to see the system, brave enough to reject it, and creative enough to build something better.2025 January 23, Joshua Stylman, The Algorithmic Age:

Of a created thing Original, expressive and imaginative.

Mathematics, Sciences, Set theory A type of set of natural numbers, related to mathematical logic.

Designed or executed to deceive or mislead.

Euphemistic, Of art bad, unartistic, busy.

Synonyms: inventive, original, Promethean
Antonyms: imitative, annihilative
Derived terms: 31 terms
anticreative, cocreative, creatify, creative accounting, creative block, creative class, creative destruction, creative differences, creative energy, creativelike, creatively, creativeness, creative nonfiction, creative sentence, creative sentencing, creative set, creative spelling, creative work, creative writing, creativity, creativize, hypercreative, miscreative, noncreative, overcreative, precreative, pre-creative, semicreative, subcreative, uncreative, undercreative
Related terms: create, creation, creationism, creationist, creator

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Late Latin creativus, from Latin creō. Equivalent to create + -ive. Displaced native Old English orþanclīċ.

A person directly involved in a creative marketing process.

Artistic material used in advertising, e.g. photographs, drawings, or video.

The design team has completed the creative for next month's multi-part ad campaign.
I've included in my portfolio all the creative I've completed in my five year design career.