carnality

American  

[kahr-nal-i-tee] / ˌkɑrˈnæl ɪ ti /

Rarely carnalism

noun

1. preoccupation with, or indulgence in, the flesh or the body and its passions and appetites; sensuality.

   Giving in to the lures of carnality—whether that means porn or real-life promiscuity—is damaging to everyone concerned.

2. the quality or state of being merely temporal or worldly; lack of spiritual vitality or maturity.

   Complaints about salary, jealousy, ambition for a reputation, and other forms of carnality show how little we ministers are separated from the world.

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Etymology

Origin of carnality

First recorded in 1400–1450; carnal ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Example Sentences

His songs married carnality and spirituality, with an echo of the little boy singing in the gospel choir of his father’s church.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2025

Purcell’s stripped-down staging rarely visualizes Rivera’s depiction of a disintegrating city, redirecting focus to the dialogue’s poetic carnality, with everyone constantly worrying whether they’ll eat or be eaten.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 17, 2021

A garbled version of the Peter Pan story, it is set in a futuristic Manhattan and staged, by Jay Scheib, with carnality, exuberance and mess.

From New York Times • Aug. 29, 2019

Arnett’s interest in the carnality of taxidermy, the extent to which it depends on touch, flows in part from her belief that the physical is political.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 21, 2019

Yet we know how revulsion from these horrors has made many a man who seemed to be sunk in sloth or greed or carnality into a Bayard or a Galahad.

From Recent Developments in European Thought by Various