worldly pleasures

Material joys sought

Worldly pleasures are enjoyments tied to physical existence and material life—food, sex, wealth, entertainment—as opposed to spiritual or intellectual pursuits.

The phrase carries a faint whiff of religious disapproval, suggesting indulgences that distract from higher concerns: He renounced worldly pleasures and entered the monastery.

Outside religious contexts, it often appears with gentle irony: I'm not above worldly pleasures—pass the wine.

Related

carnal · temptation · forbidden fruit · luxury · good life · excess · living large · high living · desire · flesh · sin · seven deadly sins · revelry · opulence · gratification · vice · materialism · extravagance

Categories
Opposites
material vs. spiritual fulfillment

worldly pleasuresspiritual fulfillment

Profound inner completeness

heavenly rewards · divine grace · spiritual enlightenment · inner peace · religious devotion

indulgence vs. renunciation

worldly pleasuresasceticism

Severe self-denial practice

self-denial · renunciation · abstinence · austerity · monasticism

temporal vs. eternal concerns

worldly pleasureseternal life

Unending conscious existence

eternal salvation · life everlasting · eternal bliss · treasures in heaven · kingdom of heaven

Family

world, worldly, worldliness, unworldly, otherworldly, pleasure, pleasures, pleasurable, pleasurably

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated PG