Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Relating to the physical body: Pertaining to or affecting the human or animal body, as opposed to the mind, spirit, or intangible things.
   • Physical and material: Involving or characterized by the body's physical structure, needs, or sensations.

2. Adverb:

   • As a complete physical entity: With the entire body; as a whole physical unit.
   • In person; physically present: In a way that involves one's actual physical presence.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Bodily functions like breathing and digestion are essential for life.
  • The accident caused him serious bodily harm.
  • She experienced a strange bodily sensation.

• Adverb:

  • The security guards removed the protester bodily from the room.
  • The legend says the saint was taken bodily up to heaven.

Advanced Usage

• "Bodily integrity": The inviolability of the physical body and the right to personal autonomy over one's own body.

  • Laws exist to protect an individual's bodily integrity.

• "Bodily fluids": A formal or medical term for liquids originating from inside the bodies of living people.

  • Healthcare workers take precautions when handling bodily fluids.

Variants and Related Words

• Body (n): The physical structure, including the bones, flesh, and organs, of a person or an animal.

  • He exercises to keep his body healthy.

• Embodied (adj): (Of a spirit, quality, or idea) expressed or personified in a tangible or physical form.

  • She embodied the spirit of perseverance.

• Incarnate (adj./v.): (Often used after a noun) Having a bodily form; to represent in human form.

  • He was evil incarnate.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Physical, corporal, corporeal, somatic, fleshly, carnal.
• Adverb: Physically, completely, entirely, wholly, in person.

Related Phrases

• Bodily autonomy: The right to self-governance over one's own body without external influence or coercion.
• Great bodily injury: A legal term for a serious impairment of physical condition.

Idioms

• To fear for one's bodily safety: To be afraid that one will be physically hurt.

  • After receiving the threats, she began to fear for her bodily safety.

• Bodily remains: A formal term for a dead body or its parts.

  • The bodily remains were laid to rest in the family plot.

Adjective

1. having or relating to a physical material body
   • bodily existence
2. affecting or characteristic of the body as opposed to the mind or spirit
   • bodily needs
   • a corporal defect
   • corporeal suffering
   • a somatic symptom or somatic illness
3. of or relating to or belonging to the body
   • a bodily organ
   • bodily functions

Adverb

1. in bodily form
   • he was translated bodily to heaven