Definition of "creeping" []

• Developing gradually over a period of time: "a creeping sense of cultural dread” ( Andrew Sullivan). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "“The flooding in Africa just now is the worst anyone can remember,” Sir John said, expressing frustration at how little media attention in the west was being devoted to what he terms creeping climatic catastrophe."
• "Q Anatoly Kulikov, the Interior Minister's, charge that Lebed was engaged in what he called creeping coup plots."
• "Nations should deploy more observers immediately to prevent what he described as a creeping takeover of UNITA-held towns by government troops."