fleshly

fleshly adjective: of or relating to the body.

Adjective

fleshly (comparative fleshlier, superlative fleshliest)

Of or relating to the body.
- […] in the body of this fleshly land,
  This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
  Hostility and civil tumult reigns
  Between my conscience and my cousin’s death.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- […] to unfold
  What Worlds, or what vast Regions hold
  The immortal mind that hath forsook
  Her mansion in this fleshly nook:a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 40
Synonyms:

bodily, corporeal
Of, relating to or resembling flesh; composed of flesh; having a lot of flesh.
- […] lay on load enough vpon e’m, and spare e’m not, for the’re good plump fleshly Asses, and may well enough beare it:1608, Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters, London: Walter Burre, act II
- In almost all birds, except the carnivorous kinds, the male seems to have more power of development, which appears in their greater height, the strength of their muscles, and in certain excrescences, as fleshly membranes, spurs, &c. […]1793, uncredited translator, The Natural History of Birds by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, London: A. Strahan, T. Cadell and J. Murray, Volume 2, pp. 52-53
Synonyms:

fleshy
Of or relating to pleasurable (often sexual) sensations.
- […] abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Peter 2:11
- A wave of desire for furious fleshly enjoyments went through him, making him want steaming dishes of food drenched in rich, spice-flavored sauces; making him want to get drunk on strong wine; to roll on thick carpets in the arms of naked, libidinous women.1921, John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, New York: Modern Library, published 1932, Part 4, Chapter 2, p. 238
Synonyms:

carnal, lascivious, sensual
Of or relating to non-spiritual or non-religious matters.
- […] in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 1:12
- Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution: a self-obtrusive, over-hasty reformer complacently disclaiming all merit, while his friends call him a martyr, has not in reality a career the most arduous to the fleshly mind.1857, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[.] Chapter 8”, in Scenes of Clerical Life […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published...
Synonyms:

secular, worldly

Antonyms:

heavenly, spiritual

Adverb

fleshly (comparative more fleshly, superlative most fleshly)

(archaic) In a sensual way; in a sexual way; carnally.
- Syr said Launcelot ye saye that that good knyȝt is my sone That ouȝtest thow to knowe and no man better said the good man / For thow knewest the doughter of kyng Pelles flesshely / and on her thow begattest Galahad / And that was he that at the feest of Pentecost satte in the sege peryllous1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV
- And the drunkard is with drink. And the ploughman is with his oxen. And the inhabitant of Ulverton doth loll fleshly abed.1992, Adam Thorpe, Ulverton, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 1994, page 24

fleshly meaning in Malayalam

fleshly in Malayalam

physical, carnal, animal: ഐഹികമായ, ശാരീരികം, ദെെഹികമായ, ഐന്ദ്രിക, ലൗകികമായ, ലൗക്യ

Examples of fleshly in a sentence

those inward pains that agonize us more than all our fleshly wounds1795, Richard Cumberland, chapter 7, in Henry, volume 3, London: Charles Dilly, page 58:
We shook hands—though I doubt if a mere fleshly contact can express much while the self behind it is dumb with instinctive distaste.1926, Walter de la Mare, “Missing”, in Best Stories of Walter de la Mare, London: Faber and Faber, published 1942, page 175:
He touched the leaves of some of the glossy bushes to find out whether they felt as fleshly as they looked. [At least one U.S. edition has fleshy]1970, Patrick White, chapter 1, in The Vivisector, London: Penguin, page 14:

Synonyms of fleshly

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of fleshly

Forms of fleshly

Adjective
comparative	fleshlier
superlative	fleshliest
Adverb
comparative	more fleshly
superlative	most fleshly

Origin of fleshly

From Middle English fleschly, from Old English flǣsċlīċ; equivalent to flesh + -ly.

From Middle English fleschly, from Old English flǣsċlīċe; equivalent to flesh + -ly.

Words formed from fleshly

Questions about fleshly

What does fleshly mean?: Fleshly means of or relating to the body.
What is fleshly in Malayalam?: Fleshly in Malayalam is ഐഹികമായ, ശാരീരികം, ദെെഹികമായ. See Fleshly meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use fleshly in a sentence?: those inward pains that agonize us more than all our fleshly wounds
What part of speech is fleshly?: Fleshly can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near fleshly in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fleshly (page history and authors); fleshly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fleshly.wav.

Cite this entry: “fleshly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fleshly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.