bodily
Syllables: bod·i·lyUK/ˈbɒdɪli//ˈbɑdɪli/
bodily adjective: of, relating to, or concerning the body.
Adjective
bodily (comparative more bodily, superlative most bodily)
- Of, relating to, or concerning the body.
- His bodily deficiencies were a heavy burden to him.
- Having a body or material form; physical; corporeal.
- You are a mere spirit, and have no knowledge of the bodily part of us.1709 May 24 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Friday, May 14, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 15; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler...
- Real; actual; put into execution.
- Be brought to bodily act.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Adverb
bodily (not comparable)
- In bodily form; physically, corporally.
- For in him dwelleth all the fulneſſe of the Godhead bodily.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 2:9
- In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an apple left; but sitting down there in the dark, what with the sound of the waters and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either fallen asleep or was on the point of doing so when a heavy man sat down with rather a clash close...1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Voyage”, in Treasure Islandᵂⁱᵏⁱˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ
- Pertaining to the whole body or mass; wholly.
- The papering of one side of the room had dropped down bodily, with fragments of plaster adhering to it, and almost blocked up the door.1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- It is true that in adopting the short view many of the younger economists have not merely taken over the lay notions bodily.1958, Jacob Viner, The Long View and the Short, page 112
- Forcefully, vigorously.
- He was thrown bodily out of the house.
Proper noun capitalized: Bodily
Bodily (plural Bodilys)
- A surname.
bodily meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
bodily in Hindi
- relating to the body
- शारीरिक śārīrik
bodily in Tamil
- உடல் சார்ந்த
bodily in Bengali
- relating to the body
- দৈহিক dōihik
bodily in Malayalam
- relating to the body
- ശാരീരിക śārīrika
More languagesFewer languages
- bodily in Sanskrit
- शारीर śārīrá
- bodily in Arabic
- جَسَدِيّ jasadiyy, بَدَنِيّ badaniyy
Examples of bodily in a sentence
- The film’s final act is Einar’s bodily transformation with gender reallocation surgery.
- Dorveille can involve the bodily exhaustion that overcomes the narrator at the outset of his text.
- Why are anti-circers even discussing UTIs if "bodily rights" are so all-important?
Synonyms of bodily
Forms of bodily
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more bodily |
| superlative | most bodily |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Bodilys |
Origin of bodily
From Middle English bodily; equivalent to body + -ly.
Words formed from bodily
Phrases with bodily
Questions about bodily
- What does bodily mean?
- Bodily means of, relating to, or concerning the body.
- What is bodily in Hindi?
- Bodily in Hindi is शारीरिक (śārīrik). See Bodily meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bodily?
- Bodily can be an adjective, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bodily?
- Bodily is pronounced /ˈbɑdɪli/ (US).
Words near bodily in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bodily (page history and authors); Bodily (page history and authors); bodily (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); शारीर (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-bodily.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bodily.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bodily. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.