Meaning & use
creative work
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The activity of making original things such as art, writing, music or designs.
Grammar: Uncountable with this meaning: creative work takes patience, not a creative work takes patience.
Patterns
- do creative work
- creative work requires something
She wants a job that involves more creative work and less paperwork.
Creative work often needs long periods of quiet.
He spends mornings on creative work and afternoons on admin.
nouncountablelegal
A single finished product of someone's imagination, such as a book, song, film or painting, especially one protected by copyright.
Grammar: Countable here: a creative work, several creative works.
Patterns
- copyright in a creative work
- license a creative work
Copyright protects a creative work from the moment it is written down.
You must credit the author when you quote a creative work.
The museum displayed creative works by local students.
Word forms
| plural | creative works |
|---|
Common combinations
- original creative work
- The contest accepts only original creative work.
- protect a creative work
- Copyright laws protect a creative work from being copied.
- share creative work
- The platform lets artists share creative work online.
- produce creative work
- It is hard to produce creative work on demand.
- body of creative work
- Her body of creative work spans four decades.
Synonyms and how they differ
- artwork
- Artwork usually means visual art, while creative work also includes writing, music and film.
- composition
- Composition suits music, writing or art you have put together, and is narrower than creative work.
- output
- Output is a neutral word for anything produced and need not be creative.
Opposites
Word family
- create verb
- to make something new
- creative adjective
- inventive and original
- creator noun
- the person who makes something
- creativity noun
- the ability to produce original ideas
Commonly confused: creative work or derivative work?
creative work vs derivative work
A derivative work is built on someone else's earlier creative work, such as a translation or sequel, so it is not fully original.
Practice
Which sentence uses creative work as a countable thing, as in copyright law?
Choose one answer.
Only the third sentence refers to one finished item, a creative work, that can be registered. In the others the phrase means the activity and is uncountable.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “creative work”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.