Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites: carnal desire.
- adj. Worldly or earthly; temporal: the carnal world.
- adj. Of or relating to the body or flesh; bodily: carnal remains.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to the flesh; hence, flesh-eating; ravenous; bloody.
- Of the same blood or descent; natural; kindred; german.
- Pertaining to the flesh or the body, its passions and its appetites; fleshly; sensual; lustful; gross; impure.
- Not spiritual; merely human; not partaking of anything divine or holy; unregenerate; unsanctified.
Wiktionary
- adj. relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites
- adj. worldly or earthly; temporal
- adj. of or relating to the body or flesh
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to the body or its appetites; animal; fleshly; sensual; given to sensual indulgence; lustful; human or worldly as opposed to
spiritual . - adj. obsolete Flesh-devouring; cruel; ravenous; bloody.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. marked by the appetites and passions of the body
- adj. of or relating to the body or flesh
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Latin carnālis ("fleshly, of the flesh (Medieval Latin natural, of the same blood or descent)"), from caro ("flesh"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old North French carnel, from Latin carnālis, from Latin carō, carn-, flesh; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If by _carnal_ the Gnostics meant 'sensual,' then, the apostles in denouncing them for rejecting a carnal Jesus, must have held that”
“Where is Hector to command the troll, change, to engage in carnal relations with a vicious predator?”
“Lord help us if old Jimmy gets any ideas along those lines, since his idea of carnal is probably a good old nose pick.”
“This mode of speaking is metonymical, and the word carnal "flesh," is used instead of carnal, by”
“For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also -- "they owe it also" to minister unto them in carnal things -- (Compare 1Co 9: 11; Ga 6: 6; and see Lu 7: 4; Ac 10: 2).”
“Note, Many are puffed up with pride, and rocked asleep in carnal security, by their church-privileges, and the place they have in Zion.”
“It is the policy of Satan, when by his temptations he has drawn men from God and their duty, to rock them asleep in carnal security, that they may not be sensible of their misery and danger.”
“General and confused notions of divine things produce in carnal hearts some kind of desires towards them, and wishes of them; like Balaam's wish, to die the death of the righteous.”
“Note, Those deceive themselves who place their happiness in carnal joys; for God in his providence can soon cast a damp upon them and put an end to them.”
“God coming upon them, but these saw for them false burdens; the messages they pretended to deliver to them from God they knew to be false, and falsely ascribed to God; so that, by soothing them up in carnal security, they caused that banishment which, by plain dealing, they might have prevented.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘carnal’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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EN - newSPEAK
Buzzwords of our time
actionable, administrivia, advermation, agreeance, backbone provider, back-sourcing, baked in, bandwidth, barn raising, Barneyware, belly-buttons, Below Zeros and 1078 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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Pretentious Christianese
"Religious" words that make you sound like a pretentious jerk no matter how appropriate their application. Essentially any word you can use as an excuse not to actually have a real conversation. =)
christophany, hermeneutics, exegesis, exegete, theophany, epistle, bibliology, sola scriptura, exposition, apocalyptic, apocrypha, transubstantiation and 25 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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meaty
sarcasm, carnal, flesh, fleshly, interlard, offal, sarcoma, meatspace, carnivorous syndrome, protocarnivorous, paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous and 32 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
gonk, nerking, guap, gimp, fabulous, dabble, fabilicious, tragic, zooted, hey, cheekini, nugget and 457 more... -
sort of sexy
pressure, press, urgency, squeezing, influence, compel, push, tease, thrust, full, drive, urge on and 99 more...
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chefjulianin's Words
high, ice, recipe, bear, bare, lady, food, identity, sudden, spooky, away, cook and 142 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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old faves
ones I already liked
vacuole, organelle, debauchle, voluptuous, spry, cattywampus, obscure, occlude, occult, celtic, voracious, ardently and 133 more...
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Sugarbuzz's Words
buzz, widget, haiku, manifesto, warble, supernova, attenuate, mania, diabolical, behemoth, beguile, lascivious and 106 more...
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Novel Words
Concise words to sprinkle in my prose.
apropos, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, antinomy, sanguine, glyph, taciturn, aesthetic, truncate, coffee and 143 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for carnal.
yarb I'm carnal and proud! Apr 6, 2011
Kristianto2010 When one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal (mere human beings)? —1 Corinthians 3:4
Apr 5, 2011