Carnal, fleshly, sensual, animal are comparable when they are used in reference to human beings, their acts, works, desires, and interests and mean having or showing a physical rather than an intellectual or spiritual character or origin.
Both carnal and fleshly imply a connection with the body or flesh especially when thought of as distinct from the spirit.
Carnal need not in itself imply condemnation. Often it is a purely descriptive or classificatory term, but through its frequent opposition to the spiritual it has come to suggest not merely man’s bodily but his lower nature and appetites and ultimately to be applied more or less specifically and usually derogatorily to the sexual and the lustful as the most bodily of appetites and the most antithetical to the spiritual nature.
Fleshly, though it implies a connection with the flesh thought of as man’s lower nature, is often less suggestive of condemnation than carnal.
Sensual implies a connection with sensations, but it further implies an indulgence in bodily sensation for its own sake rather than for an aesthetic end.
Very often the word carries implications of grossness marked by concentration on bodily satisfaction and the absence of intellectual or spiritual qualities.
Animal implies a connection with man’s physical nature as distinguished chiefly from his rational nature. It comparatively seldom implies an intent to depreciate.