Webster's English Dictionary

Enter the word to look up:

carnal

car.nal \'ka:rn-*l\ \ka:r-'nal-*t-e-\ \'ka:rn-*l-e-\ aj [ME, fr. ONF or LL; 
   ONF, fr. LL carnalis, fr. L carn-, caro f]lesh; akin to Gk keirein to cut 
   1: BODILY, CORPOREAL  2a: marked by sexuality  2b: relating to or given to 
   crude bodily pleasures  3a: TEMPORAL  3b: WORLDLY  a relation to the body. 
   CARNAL may mean only this but more often connotes derogatorily an action or 
   manifestation of man's lower nature; FLESHLY is somewhat less condemnatory 
   than 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; ANIMAL stresses a relation to man's physical as 
   distinguished from his rational nature usu. without definitely derogatory 
   suggestion - car.nal.i.ty n SYN syn CARNAL, FLESHLY, SENSUAL, ANIMAL mean 
   having