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

See Examples For:

carnality

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

The soup is deceptively mild at first, gaining carnality with each spoonful but never growing too forceful, held in check by a faint, ameliorating sweetness.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2018

Central to the book is the tension between their shifts along the axes of cultural-philosophical speculation and carnality.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 5, 2015

This earthliness and carnality of our hearts makes them like the earth, receive only the light in the upper and outward superfice, and not suffer it to be transmitted into our hearts to change them.

From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning