Carnal

//ˈkɑɹnəl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites or activities.

    "At the town of Mendes, in the principal temple, there was a living male goat, with which, if the statement of Herodotus is to be accepted, naked female worshippers actually had carnal intercourse."

  2. 2
    Worldly or earthly; temporal.
  3. 3
    Of or relating to the body or flesh.
Adjective
  1. 1
    marked by the appetites and passions of the body wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to the body or flesh wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fleshlyadamicamorousanimalanimalanimalistic

Example

More examples

"These people of the remote future were strict vegetarians, and while I was with them, in spite of some carnal cravings, I had to be frugivorous also."

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin carnālis (“fleshly, of the flesh”), from carō (“flesh”).

Related phrases

carnal knowledge

More for "carnal"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.