Adjacent Words

Carnal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CARNAL, a.
1. Pertaining to flesh; fleshly; sensual; opposed to spiritual; as carnal pleasure.
2. Being in the natural state; unregenerate.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. Romans 8.
3. Pertaining to the ceremonial law; as carnal ordinances. Heb
9:10.
4. Lecherous; lustful; libidinous; given to sensual indulgence.
Carnal-knowledge, sexual intercourse.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by the appetites and passions of the body; "animal instincts"; "carnal knowledge"; "fleshly desire"; "a sensual delight in eating"; "music is the only sensual pleasure without vice" [syn: animal, carnal, fleshly, sensual]
2: of or relating to the body or flesh; "carnal remains"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French carnel, charnel, from Late Latin carnalis, from Latin carn-, caro flesh; akin to Greek keirein to cut — more at shear Date: 14th century 1. a. relating to or given to crude bodily pleasures and appetites b. marked by sexuality <carnal love> 2. bodily, corporeal <seen with carnal eyes> 3. a. temporal <carnal weapons> b. worldly <a carnal mind> • carnality noun • carnally adverb Synonyms: carnal, fleshly, sensual, animal mean having a relation to the body. carnal may mean only this but more often connotes derogatorily an action or manifestation of a person's lower nature <a slave to carnal desires>. fleshly is less derogatory than carnal <a saint who had experienced fleshly temptations>. sensual may apply to any gratification of a bodily desire or pleasure but commonly implies sexual appetite with absence of the spiritual or intellectual <fleshpots providing sensual delights>. animal stresses the physical as distinguished from the rational nature of a person <led a mindless animal existence>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 of the body or flesh; worldly. 2 sensual, sexual. Phrases and idioms: carnal knowledge Law sexual intercourse. Derivatives: carnality n. carnalize v.tr. (also -ise). carnally adv. Etymology: ME f. LL carnalis f. caro carnis flesh

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Carnal Car"nal, a. [L. carnalis, fr. caro, carnis, flesh; akin to Gr. ?, Skr. kravya; cf. F. charnel, Of. also carnel. Cf. Charnel.] 1. Of or pertaining to the body or its appetites; animal; fleshly; sensual; given to sensual indulgence; lustful; human or worldly as opposed to spiritual. For ye are yet carnal. --1 Cor. iii. 3. Not sunk in carnal pleasure. --Milton Carnal desires after miracles. --Trench. 2. Flesh-devouring; cruel; ravenous; bloody. [Obs.] This carnal cur Preys on the issue of his mother's body. --Shak. Carnal knowledge, sexual intercourse; -- used especially of an unlawful act on the part of the man.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Carnal feelings and desires are sexual and physical, without any spiritual element. (FORMAL) Their ruling passion is that of carnal love. = sexual ADJ: usu ADJ n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Unconverted men are so called (1 Cor. 3:3). They are represented as of a "carnal mind, which is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:6, 7). Enjoyments that minister to the wants and desires of man's animal nature are so called (Rom. 15:27; 1 Cor. 9:11). The ceremonial of the Mosaic law is spoken of as "carnal," because it related to things outward, the bodies of men and of animals, and the purification of the flesh (Heb. 7:16; 9:10). The weapons of Christian warfare are "not carnal", that is, they are not of man's device, nor are wielded by human power (2 Cor. 10:4).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kar'-nal: In the Old Testament there is an expression which indicates sexual intercourse shikhebhath zera`, "lying of seed," (Le 18:20; 19:20; Nu 5:13). In the New Testament the words rendered "carnal" are derived from sarks, "flesh." This refers to the flesh as opposed to the pneuma, "spirit," and denotes, in an ethical sense, mere human nature, the lower side of man as apart from the Divine influence, and therefore estranged from God and prone to sin; whatever in the soul is weak and tends toward ungodliness (see FLESH). Thus one may be carnal (sarkinos), sold under sin (Ro 7:14). Christians may be carnal (sarkinos, 1Co 3:1; sarkikos, 1Co 3:3); the lower side of their being is dominant and not the spirit, hence, they fall into sins of envy and strife. The weapons of the Christian warfare are not carnal, not merely human (of the flesh the Revised Version (British and American), the American Standard Revised Version), but spiritual (2Co 10:4); "not after the law of a carnal commandment" (Hebrews 7:16); "The carnal mind is enmity against God" ("mind of the flesh" the Revised Version (British and American), the American Standard Revised Version, Ro 8:7). So, "to be carnally minded is death" ("mind of the flesh" the Revised Version (British and American), the American Standard Revised Version, Ro 8:6). There are "carnal ordinances," in contrast to the spiritual ones of the gospel (Hebrews 9:10); "Minister unto them in carnal things," those that pertain to the body in contrast to spiritual things (Ro 15:27; 1Co 9:11). The same expressions are elsewhere rendered "fleshly" (2Co 1:12; 3:3 the Revised Version (British and American) "hearts of flesh"; 1Pe 2:11).

Is there any difference between sarkinos and sarkikos? The former more definitely denotes the material of which an object is made. It may express with emphasis the idea of sarkikos, the spiritual given up as it were to the flesh.

See MAN (THE NATURAL).

G. H. Trever

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Fleshly, sensual. 2. Lustful, libidinous, lecherous, lascivious, lickerish, lubric(al), lubricous, concupiscent, salacious. 3. Natural, unspiritual, unregenerate, earthly, temporal.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamic, Circean, Philistine, amorous, animal, animalistic, aphrodisiomaniacal, backsliding, bawdy, beastlike, beastly, bestial, bodily, brutal, brute, brutish, carnal-minded, clitoromaniacal, coarse, concupiscent, corporal, corporeal, dirty, earthly, earthy, erogenic, erogenous, erotic, eroticomaniacal, erotogenic, erotomaniacal, erring, fallen, fleshly, frail, gamic, goatish, gross, gynecomaniacal, heterosexual, horny, hot, hysteromaniacal, impure, infirm, ithyphallic, lapsed, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinal, libidinous, licentious, lickerish, lubricious, lustful, material, materialistic, mundane, nonspiritual, nuptial, nymphomaniacal, obscene, of easy virtue, orgiastic, oversexed, pandemic, peccable, physical, postlapsarian, potent, priapic, procreative, prodigal, profane, prurient, randy, recidivist, recidivistic, salacious, satyric, secular, sensual, sensuous, sex, sexed, sexlike, sexual, sexy, somatic, straight, substantial, swinish, temporal, terrestrial, unangelic, unchaste, unclean, undersexed, ungodly, ungood, unrighteous, unsaintly, unspiritual, unvirtuous, venereal, virtueless, voluptuous, vulgar, wanton, wayward, weak, worldly