CARNAL

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does carnal mean? 

• CARNAL (adjective)
  The adjective CARNAL has 2 senses:

1. marked by the appetites and passions of the body

2. of or relating to the body or flesh

  Familiarity information: CARNAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARNAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by the appetites and passions of the body

Synonyms:

animal; carnal; fleshly; sensual

Context example:

music is the only sensual pleasure without vice

Similar:

physical (involving the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit)

Derivation:

carnality (feeling morbid sexual desire or a propensity to lewdness)

carnalize (debase through carnal gratification)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to the body or flesh

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

carnal remains

Pertainym:

flesh (the soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate: mainly muscle tissue and fat)

Derivation:

carnalize (ascribe to an origin in sensation)

 Context examples 

When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:—"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth—which it made one shudder to see—the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)