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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary car·nal \\ˈkär-n əl\\ 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 love2. bodily , corporeal seen with carnal eyes3. a. temporal carnal weapons b. worldly a carnal mind• car·nal·i·ty \\kär-ˈna-lə-tē\\ noun• car·nal·ly \\ˈkär-nə-lē\\ adverbSynonyms. 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
carnal
c.1400, "fleshly, sensual, sexual," from M.L. carnalis "natural, of the same blood," from L. carnis "of the flesh," gen. of caro "flesh." Carnal knowledge was in legal use by 1686.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 carnal
car·nal / 5kB:nl; NAmE 5kB:rnl / adjective[usually before noun]
(formal or law 律) connected with the body or with sex
肉体的；肉欲的；性欲的:
carnal desires / appetites
肉/性欲
• car·nal·ly / 5kB:nEli; NAmE 5kB:rn- / adv.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged Search result show the entry is found in: carnal abuse , or carnal knowledge
car·nal\ˈkärn əl, ˈkȧn-\ adjectiveEtymology: Middle English, from Old North French or Late Latin; Old North French, from Late Latin carnalis (translation of Greek sarkikos), from Latin carn-, caro flesh; akin to Greek keirein to cut — more at shear 1. a. : bodily , corporeal < armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack — Bram Stoker > < carnal interment > b. : consanguineous and bodily in relationship < the carnal mother of Christ > c. obsolete : bloodthirsty 2. a. : marked by sexuality that is often frank, crude, and unrelieved by higher emotions < carnal infatuation — T.S.Eliot > b. : relating to or given to crude bodily pleasures < gluttony and other carnal traits >3. : unspiritual: a. : temporal < the superiority of the spiritual and eternal over the carnal — H.O.Taylor > b. : worldly < should abstain from singing vain and carnal ballads — Charles Kingsley > c. : fleshy , sensual < with red and bloated cheeks and carnal eyes — Nathaniel Hawthorne >Synonyms: fleshly , sensual , animal : carnal , once equivalent to bodily or physical, now refers almost exclusively to sexual or other sensual actions or interests < Barbara Villiers … is the most unpleasant of Charles II's mistresses … he was besotted by her purely carnal attractions — Times Literary Supplement > fleshly is close to carnal in meaning but less severe and sometimes a little apologetic in suggestion < punishments were set for the fleshly sins of monks and nuns and clergy — H.O.Taylor > sensual may simply indicate gratification of any bodily desire or pleasure < his feet and hands were always cold and there was for him an almost sensual satisfaction to be had from … letting the hot sun beat down on him — Sherwood Anderson > Usu. it indicates concentration on bodily satisfaction and absence of anything intellectual or spiritual < it ceases to be sensuous and becomes sensual. This isolation of sense is not characteristic of esthetic objects but of such things as narcotics, sexual orgasms, and gambling — John Dewey > Often it implies gross sexuality < a coarse heavy face, loose-featured, red, and sensual — Thomas Wolfe > animal , often without derogation, simply indicates bodily or sentient characteristics common to both man and animal or traits resembling those found in animals rather than man < the state in his view is not merely a convenient machinery that raises a man above his animal wants — G.L.Dickinson > < he taught the boy boxing … and superintended the direction of his animal vigor — George Meredith >
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