incarnate

CEFRC1

/ɪnˈkɑːɹ.nɪt/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    In human form.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Flesh-colored; crimson.

Examples

  • He was incarnate of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

  • This woman is perfection incarnate.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈɪnkɑːneɪt/
  • /ɪnˈkɑːɹ.neɪt/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. To embody in flesh; to invest with a bodily, especially a human, form.

  2. Embodied in flesh; given a bodily, especially a human, form; personified.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To gain full existence (bodily or otherwise).

More examples

In context

  • You are the devil incarnate.

  • 1751-1753, John Jortin, Remarks on Ecclesiastical History He […] represents the emperor and his wife as two devils incarnate, sent into the world for the destruction of mankind.

  • Here shalt thou sit incarnate.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the story, the evil spirit became blank in a human body to walk the earth.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

First attested in 1395, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English incarnat(e) (“(of God or Christ) embodied in human form or flesh, incarnate; provided with new tissues, healed; (with devel, in curses) bloody”), borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātus, perfect passive participle of incarnor (“to be made flesh, become incarnate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- + Latin carō (“flesh”, carn- in its oblique stem) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). By surface analysis, in- + Latin carn- + -ate.