1. in its most general sense, the view that the universe was created out of nothing by a higher intelligence, in contrast to the view that it came into being without any such intervention, or that it has existed forever. Although most varieties of this view are religious, all need not be.

2. in a more restricted sense, a family of views that reject evolutionary theories in favor of a literal acceptance of the biblical creation story, holding (among other things) that the world was created by God in six days (or fairly short time periods) and that each species of animal (including humans) was created by a separate act of God. See also intelligent design. —creationist adj., n.