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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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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fleshly
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
That was the thing about Succession — its characters were monstrous, but the show never lost sight of their fleshly fallibility, their doubts and vulnerabilities.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 31 May 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
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
That was the thing about Succession — its characters were monstrous, but the show never lost sight of their fleshly fallibility, their doubts and vulnerabilities.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 31 May 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
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Context requires holding multiple layers of reality simultaneously—the organizational politics, cultural dynamics, personal histories, and temporal factors that shape every interaction.—
Michael Hudson,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
-
This pair of daring temporal adventurers makes hops, skips, and jumps along the time stream with Sam popping up randomly into different bodies throughout history.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
24 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The iPhone 17 is set to be the fourth gen of Apple smartphones without a physical SIM card slot in the US.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
8 Sep. 2025
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Even today, thousands of its physical records are stored in former limestone mines in Missouri and Pennsylvania.—
Eli Hager,
ProPublica,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The look’s holistic effect contrasted sensual styling on the top, with streamlined suited inspiration with the pants.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
9 Sep. 2025
-
In between times, there are long shots of the gingko, tree’s-eye views of what is happening on the ground and squelching closeups of germinating seeds – luscious and inescapably sensual.—
Stephanie Bunbury,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
One of the more mundane-yet-fascinating categories requiring significant upgrades was and is positional precision or, in other words, the understanding of the vehicle’s location versus a global map.—
Steve Tengler,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The joke density is lethally calibrated between the writing, direction, performances, reactions, and heightened absurdity of any mundane situation.—
Proma Khosla,
IndieWire,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The virus, which is spread by bodily fluids, is endemic in animal populations in Central and West Africa, and there are periodic outbreaks.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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Chernyak, who came to the US last August, was arrested in January and charged with battery with bodily harm over what his common-law wife Oksana Tarasiuk told CNN was a misunderstanding exacerbated by a language barrier with police officers.—
Isabelle Chapman,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Stern, who is 71, first signed with Sirius in 2004 (prior to its merger with XM), in part to be free of oversight by the FCC, which had levied millions of dollars in fines on terrestrial radio stations that carried his show for alleged indecency.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
4 Sep. 2025
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The ideal case would be to find a terrestrial meteorite containing organic molecules, or conceivably micro-fossils, from a time that Earth’s own geological record has not preserved, says Crawford.—
Bruce Dorminey,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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It was once widely believed throughout Europe that stars produced an ethereal fluid that somehow influenced earthly affairs.—
Martha Barnette
August 6,
Literary Hub,
6 Aug. 2025
-
Most scientists with relevant expertise suspected the specimen had been contaminated with earthly life, which is the consensus today.—
F.D. Flam,
Twin Cities,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In 2022, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 paved the way for alternatives to animal testing, and in December 2023, an NIH advisory committee made similar recommendations to develop non-animal methods.—
Rachel Fobar,
Vox,
14 May 2025
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Rendering is a process that transforms animal by-products, like leftover meat and fats...and yes, chicken feet, into usable materials, such as animal feed, fuel, and other industrial products.—
Phil Kafarakis,
Forbes.com,
1 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fleshly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleshly. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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