1
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in sensual
pleasing to the physical senses
returning campers looking forward to all the fleshly pleasures of home, including warm baths
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fleshly
Imperfect fleshly reality occupies the stage, the region where bones crack and wounds suppurate, schlumpy humans fall for each other, and jealousy roams murderously free.
—
Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
Murderbot has been realized in fleshly form in the sculpted body of Alexander Skarsgård, on the new Apple TV+ series of the same name.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
Belief in being a personal soul trapped in a fleshly body would invert this true view.
—Tony Lobl, Christian Science Monitor, 5 Mar. 2025
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
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
Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
Murderbot has been realized in fleshly form in the sculpted body of Alexander Skarsgård, on the new Apple TV+ series of the same name.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
Belief in being a personal soul trapped in a fleshly body would invert this true view.
—Tony Lobl, Christian Science Monitor, 5 Mar. 2025
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleshly
Adjective
-
The first is their temporal nature—they are specifically designed for live and unfolding events, and their modality reflects this liveness.—
Daniel Jackson,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Her formidable, untitled 2026 sphinx regally commands its space among ancient Egyptian and Roman sculpture, a marvel of the cross-temporal and cross-spatial, spiked with specific references to Black self-determination.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Those consumers have been increasingly seeking out solutions to ease the physical process, according to Circana.—
Laya Neelakandan,
CNBC,
2 May 2026
-
In these kinds of experiments, participants are told to practice physical activities—finger tapping, coin tossing, dart throwing with a nondominant hand—within their dreams.—
Shayla Love,
New Yorker,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
From cheeky shots of celebrities like Jane Fonda and Arnold Schwarzenegger to extravagant, sensual portfolios of America’s Olympic squads, the magazine’s pantheon of photographers have helped to define the genre of sports portraiture.—
Jonathan Pace,
Vanity Fair,
26 Apr. 2026
-
Here, the sado-sensual yearning of the Confederacy to instantiate itself through the fetishes and reliquaries of figurative sculpture is shown as hollow, impotent, all too discomfiting, and very real.—
Horace D. Ballard,
Artforum,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
But there was a time when the title character of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film, Amélie, was expected to sport a far more mundane 'do.—
Adèle Bari,
Vanity Fair,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The girls would spend hours filming TikToks, turning mundane daily moments into something playful and childlike.—
Lauren Mascarenhas,
CNN Money,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Given who holds power in Washington, the key is to focus rhetoric less on the big vision of global sustainability than on the simple defense of personal bodily health, including especially the health of kids.—
Justin Zorn,
STAT,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The prions are spread between animals through bodily fluids, including saliva, blood, urine and feces, and can occur through direct contact or indirectly through contamination of soil, food or water.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Still, the music flourished on terrestrial radio and music-video television, two venues for mass musical experiences whose power has diminished drastically in the streaming era.—
Jack Hamilton,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Broadcasting and telecommunications encompass radio and television services (including terrestrial broadcasting, cable, and satellite), telephony and wireless networks, and online streaming services.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
As the visionary figure, Bambaataa brought the sampling ethos to the music as well as an Afrocentric philosophy, a way of living unbounded by the earthly confines of whatever America had been or would become.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
-
That’s to say, there’s earthly authority and there’s heavenly authority.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The charity reports a 70% increase in multi-animal incidents across England and Wales since 2021, defining such cases as those involving 10 or more animals.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
9 Apr. 2026
-
Regulators are trying to push drug development into a post-animal testing era.—
Meghana Keshavan,
STAT,
19 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fleshly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleshly. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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