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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 Uma doesn’t have a domestic bone in her body, and Gopal seems unable even to undress in front of his wife, let alone have anything resembling carnal relations. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 19 May 2025 Decades later, Erika bears a carnal attraction to her Uncle Fritz (Martin Rother), an amputee who lies withering in pain in his bedroom. Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 14 May 2025 But the texting and blocking, the free-for-all backwaters of the internet and the carnal shenanigans that color contemporary TV teendom do put a different complexion on growing up. Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2025 Miranda, specifically, is in the middle of a three-month break from carnal knowledge. Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 25 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for carnal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for carnal
Adjective
  • Many are multipurpose, mundane items that can be used on the body and even in your diet.
    Essence, Essence, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Let’s go outside the mundane and what people know us as every day.
    Jack Irvin, PEOPLE, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Santos Jimenez remains in good physical shape, with Debbie Jimenez noting that her father-in-law would likely be going for a walk after the interview.
    Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 26 Oct. 2025
  • But his unconventional and physical style of play as a 6-foot-2, 235-pound quarterback is what endears him to them on the field.
    Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The garments by the two designers are arranged side by side or facing each other, allowing visitors to appreciate the contrast between Balenciaga’s formal elegance and Alaïa’s sensual style.
    Andrea Onate, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2025
  • This film took us on an unexpected journey through the hallucinating world of the rave dancers in the desert of Morocco, with the specificity of a journalist, and with all the sensual power of a filmmaker.
    Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This temporal displacement frees Pynchon to offer sidelong commentary on contemporary politics without getting trapped in the flux of the present or being too on the nose.
    Jack Denton, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
  • To practice ‘future temporal focused’ networking, create a timetable and ask yourself key questions.
    Sarah Maokosy, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Having been taken to Coonabarabran Police Station, Valette was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a person with intent and affray, which is fighting or the threat of unlawful violence which makes another person fear for their life, per the NSW Police news release.
    Latoya Gayle, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Jashanpreet, an Indian national who entered the United States illegally in 2022, has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs, causing bodily injury, and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to San Bernardino County records.
    Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Having exhausted our terrestrial destination, humanity is now reaching for extraterrestrial ones.
    Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Instead of running physical cables that connect your home or RV to the greater internet, Starlink uses a series of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that communicate between your home dish and a terrestrial gateway somewhere else on Earth.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Not quite plant, not quite animal; delicious and wild and rare.
    Callie Sumlin, Bon Appetit Magazine, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Perhaps unsurprisingly, dogs were more likely to respond to animal stimuli than to non-animal stimuli.
    Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 July 2025
Adjective
  • In early Christian thinking, its connotations of languor and listlessness, within the spirit no less than the body, lent it the status of a sin—a turning aside from God for the sake of earthly sorrow.
    Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Ordinary matter makes up everything from the cosmic (planets and stars) to the earthly (people and trees).
    Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Carnal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/carnal. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.

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