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Synonym Chooser

How is the word carnal different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of carnal are animal, fleshly, and sensual. While all these words 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

When can animal be used instead of carnal?

While the synonyms animal and carnal are close in meaning, animal stresses the physical as distinguished from the rational nature of a person.

led a mindless animal existence

How do fleshly and carnal relate to one another?

Fleshly is less derogatory than carnal.

a saint who had experienced fleshly temptations

When is it sensible to use sensual instead of carnal?

While in some cases nearly identical to carnal, 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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of carnal Music does in deed play a big role in the trailer, which shows off a rural Jim Crow Era South setting and sees Black people cutting loose in melodious and carnal celebration. Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2025 There's two parts of us, our highest good, and then our carnal, material self. Daniela Avila, People.com, 28 Jan. 2025 The album’s best songs thread the needle carefully between carnal aches, pledges to weather relationship highs and lows, and conciliatory admissions that the singer-songwriter and producer doesn’t always make the best choices. Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2024 Even Agnes, who stands to earn the film an X rating with her carnal extracurricular activities, behaves in ugly ways. Peter Debruge, Variety, 24 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for carnal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for carnal
Adjective
  • On a more mundane level, people in many places were hiding fire away in closed stoves, steam engines, and furnaces.
    Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Here was a death that was permanent in the mundane sort of way.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The lack of adequate WASH facilities has also disproportionately affected women and girls by interfering with basic menstrual hygiene, harming their mental and physical health.
    Lesley Joseph, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025
  • Its most significant physical feature is a segmented tread protruding from its back, and extending to the front of its face.
    Jeff Spry, Space.com, 27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Jean, 36, began experimenting with these sensual voiceovers in 2023.
    Leah Asmelash, CNN, 9 Mar. 2025
  • Free from the arc of awards season, the fashion world set their eyes squarely on Paris Fashion Week’s debuts: first, Haider Ackermann’s sensual take on Tom Ford, and now, to Burton at Givenchy.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • From there on out, the film takes a couple of major swings in the realm of its timeline — a strange temporal unfurling — as well as the seeming motives behind A.J. and Isaac’s arrival, and Camille’s readiness to host them alongside a friend who clearly needs some alone time.
    Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Scientists had long thought that deciphering those qualities — collectively known as prosody — happened in the superior temporal gyrus, an area of the brain associated with speech perception.
    Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • They are often intertwined with political, moral and spiritual ideas around the rights of an individual versus the community, the limits of government power over bodily autonomy, mistrust of medical institutions and misinformation about shot safety and efficacy.
    Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 9 Mar. 2025
  • He was sentenced to serve eight years in prison for first-degree burglary and assault likely to cause great bodily injury.
    Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 8 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • What’s more, because the GEO satellite networks use completely different protocols than the service providers' terrestrial networks, any method of interoperability has to be customized per each provider and each connection point.
    Glenn Katz, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
  • In these follow-up simulations, a small star, about three quarters the mass of the sun, is birthed out of the dense gas with planetesimals—kilometer-scale precursors to terrestrial planets—in tow.
    Conor Feehly, Scientific American, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • However, they are immediately attacked by a ferocious creature that seems not fully animal, not fully human.
    EW.com, EW.com, 16 Jan. 2025
  • Animal lovers will enjoy horseback riding or visiting one of the area’s animal sanctuaries.
    Katie Seemann, Travel + Leisure, 25 Apr. 2023
Adjective
  • How has Max died and why is his spirit anchored on the earthly plane?
    Marie-Helene Bertino, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2025
  • That’s an awful lot of earthly real estate, but when the asteroid becomes visible again and draws closer to us, a much more precise ground-zero could be determined.
    Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 14 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Carnal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/carnal. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

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