carnal knowledge
2
8.3
- noun
- /ˈkɑrnəl ˈnɑlɪdʒ/
- NSFW
:
conocimiento carnal
- The lawyer argued that consent was not obtained before the act of carnal knowledge occurred.
Examples
-
Following the Feminist Majority Foundation's spring 2011 Rape is Rape campaign, in January 2012 the FBI updated the astonishingly limited definition for rape it had utilized since 1929: "the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will." The definition has been expanded to include all possible forms of rape.
Blog text (19) -
You have to have carnal knowledge, of a lady this time, on the premises.
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Are you sure that you don't want to talk about... oh, carnal knowledge with a neighborhood girl?
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I don't know whether or not you know, but the city's coming down on people involved with unlawful carnal knowledge.
-
As a consequence, the law paradoxically decreed that a thirteen-year-old could consent to "indecent conduct" but not "carnal knowledge."
Academic text (2018) -
The old definition of rape—as the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will—overlooked other forms of rape and the fact that men, too, can be victims.
Blog text (29) -
The law states that any adult who engages in carnal knowledge with a minor is committing a serious crime.
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In the courtroom, the judge explained that he was being charged with unlawful carnal knowledge.
Synonyms
103
8.3
Sex between people
89
7.8
Sex that involves a man's penis entering a woman's vagina
62
3.4
Sex between people, for example in a romantic or casual relationship
31
3.2
An act in which one person's penis enters another person's vagina
19
3.7
Sexual activity between people, often intercourse
8
8.2
Sex in which a male inserts his penis into a female's vagina
8
8.5
An act in which a man puts his penis into a woman's vagina
1
7.5
To have sex with someone
Sex when a man's penis goes into a woman's vagina
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'carnal' clearly signals sexual/physical matters, so a learner who knows both words will likely guess a sexual sense, but 'knowledge' normally means information and does not transparently denote the act of intercourse. The phrase is a legal/archaic euphemism where 'knowledge' = sexual relations, so the specific meaning (sexual intercourse, often penetration) is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Carnal knowledge comes from old legal language: carnal meant 'of the flesh' and knowledge once meant 'to know someone' in a close, personal way, so together the phrase was a formal way to say 'sexual intercourse'.