corporal

¹

[ kawr-per-uhl, -pruhl ]

adjective

1. of the human body; bodily; physical:

   corporal suffering.

   Synonyms: material

2. Zoology. of the body proper, as distinguished from the head and limbs.
3. personal:

   corporal possession.

4. Obsolete. corporeal; belonging to the material world.

corporal

²

[ kawr-per-uhl, -pruhl ]

noun

, Military.

1. 1. a noncommissioned officer ranking above a private first class in the U.S. Army or lance corporal in the Marines and below a sergeant.
   2. a similar rank in the armed services of other countries.
2. Corporal, a U.S. surface-to-surface, single-stage ballistic missile.

corporal

³

[ kawr-per-uhl, -pruhl ]

noun

, Ecclesiastical.

1. a fine cloth, usually of linen, on which the consecrated elements in the Eucharist are placed or with which they are covered.

corporal

¹

/ -prəl; ˈkɔːpərəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the body; bodily
2. an obsolete word for corporeal

corporal

²

/ -prəl; ˌkɔːpəˈreɪlɪ; ˈkɔːpərəl /

noun

1. a white linen cloth on which the bread and wine are placed during the Eucharist

corporal

³

/ ˈkɔːpərəl; -prəl /

noun

1. a noncommissioned officer junior to a sergeant in the army, air force, or marines
2. (in the Royal Navy) a petty officer who assists the master-at-arms

Derived Forms

• ˌcorpoˈrality, noun
• ˈcorporally, adverb
• ˈcorporalˌship, noun

Other Words From

• corpo·rali·ty noun
• corpo·ral·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of corporal¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English corporal, corporel, from Old French corporal and Latin corporālem, from corporālis “bodily, physical,” equivalent to corpor- (stem of corpus “body” (alive or dead) + -ālis adjective ending; -al ¹

Origin of corporal²

First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French corporal, variant of cap(p)oral (influenced by adjective corporal “bodily”), from Italian caporale, apparently a contraction of the phrase capo corporale “corporal head, bodily head” that is, head of a body (of soldiers); See caput, corporal ¹

Origin of corporal³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English corporal(le), from Medieval Latin corporālis (palla), corporāle (pallium) “eucharistic (altar cloth)”; replacing earlier corporas, corporaus, from Old French corporaus, corporals, from Latin corporālis (palla), as above; pall ¹( def ), pallium

Word History and Origins

Origin of corporal¹

C14: from Latin corporālis of the body, from corpus body

Origin of corporal²

C14: from Medieval Latin corporāle pallium eucharistic altar cloth, from Latin corporālis belonging to the body, from corpus body (of Christ)

Origin of corporal³

C16: from Old French, via Italian, from Latin caput head; perhaps also influenced in Old French by corps body (of men)

Synonym Study

See physical.

Example Sentences

For many boarding school students, corporal punishment was regarded as "normal", former Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olonga, who was attending the camp the night Guide died, said in his 2015 autobiography.

From BBC

The shock has been even greater for 25-year-old Cameron Adair from Scunthorpe, whose great, great uncle, Corporal William Adair, is one of two soldiers from the Royal Ulster Rifles Ms Nash has also managed to identify.

From BBC

Corporal Adair did not have children, and when his wife died so did his memory, leaving Cameron and his family unaware of his existence.

From BBC

The review, commissioned a year after Smyth's death by the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, found that an argument had been made that the abuses were "examples of over-enthusiastic corporal punishment".

From BBC

Fusilier Jack Wilkes, from Tywyn, Gwynedd, was diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma and became too ill to complete his Lance Corporal training.

From BBC