FLESHLY Synonyms: 89 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'fleshly' different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of fleshly are animal , carnal , and sensual . While all these words mean "having a relation to the body," fleshly is less derogatory than carnal . // a saint who had experienced fleshly temptations

Q: When might 'animal' be a better fit than 'fleshly'?

While the synonyms animal and fleshly are close in meaning, animal stresses the physical as distinguished from the rational nature of a person. // led a mindless animal existence

Q: When is 'carnal' a more appropriate choice than 'fleshly'?

While in some cases nearly identical to fleshly , 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

Q: When would 'sensual' be a good substitute for 'fleshly'?

Although the words sensual and fleshly have much in common, 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

fleshly

adjective

ˈflesh-lē

Definition of fleshly next

as in temporal

having to do with life on earth especially as opposed to that in heaven a time of year when people shouldn't focus on fleshly concerns, but instead on spiritual matters

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in physical

of or relating to the human body the fleshly eye sees the only finished painting, but the mind's eye sees the genius behind its creation

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sensual

pleasing to the physical senses returning campers looking forward to all the fleshly pleasures of home, including warm baths

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word fleshly different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of fleshly are animal, carnal, and sensual. While all these words mean "having a relation to the body," fleshly is less derogatory than carnal.

a saint who had experienced fleshly temptations

When might animal be a better fit than fleshly?

While the synonyms animal and fleshly are close in meaning, animal stresses the physical as distinguished from the rational nature of a person.

led a mindless animal existence

When is carnal a more appropriate choice than fleshly?

While in some cases nearly identical to fleshly, 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 would sensual be a good substitute for fleshly?

Although the words sensual and fleshly have much in common, 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 fleshly What the world desires, in short, is a glimpse of a video game, which no one will be able to play until 2025—a game that builds an entire alternative world, glowing with the promise of violence and other fleshly thrills. —

Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2023 But the album offers more than deliciously hedonistic thrills: Thrusting us into their operatic world, this Brooklyn band makes peace with their dark memories and fleshly desires. —

Pitchfork, 6 Dec. 2023 When another girl, Addie (Mia Pak), tries to explain Jesus’ status as the Son of God—fully fleshly and fully divine—as the meeting of horizontal and vertical lines at the overlapping center of a Venn diagram, Beatrice fisks the idea earnestly. —

Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2022 The grateful nutcracker becomes a living prince and leads Clara through a spinning snowstorm of ballerinas to a sugary kingdom where flamenco-style dancers spin with twisting torsos and entwining arms as fleshly embodiments of Spanish chocolate. —

Sarah L. Kaufman, Washington Post, 25 Nov. 2022 There is a leveling effect to his approach, one that allows About Endlessness to find grandeur in the smallest of everyday moments while also highlighting the fallible, fleshly absurdity of even history’s most outsize figures. —

Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2021 They were tempted by curiosity and hunger, by fleshly desires. —

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The New Yorker, 18 Jan. 2021 When all seems lost, a magical, fleshly reappearance defies death’s despair. —

Longreads, 14 Apr. 2020 Our fleshly forms evolved to work within the tug of gravity. —

National Geographic, 12 June 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleshly

Adjective

Great vacations exist in a temporal netherworld, unmoored from the reality of daily life.

— Sofia Perez, Travel + Leisure, 30 Jan. 2025
The Apocalypse was a way out, a temporal doorway to God and Heaven.

— Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025