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.
- indulgenceYielding to desire
- hedonismPursuit of gratification
- sensualOf bodily pleasure
- decadentSelf-indulgent, often corruptly
- creature comfortsPhysical pleasures, everyday luxuries
carnal · temptation · forbidden fruit · luxury · good life · excess · living large · high living · desire · flesh · sin · seven deadly sins · revelry · opulence · gratification · vice · materialism · extravagance
- indulgenceindulgence, indulge, indulgent, self-indulgent, overindulgence
- self-controlself-control, restraint, willpower, composure, moderation
worldly pleasuresspiritual fulfillment
Profound inner completeness
heavenly rewards · divine grace · spiritual enlightenment · inner peace · religious devotion
worldly pleasuresasceticism
Severe self-denial practice
self-denial · renunciation · abstinence · austerity · monasticism
worldly pleasureseternal life
Unending conscious existence
eternal salvation · life everlasting · eternal bliss · treasures in heaven · kingdom of heaven
world, worldly, worldliness, unworldly, otherworldly, pleasure, pleasures, pleasurable, pleasurably