John Milton
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Warm, cheerful, and pleasant? That’s genial in a bottle, baby. Or at least (if such a declaration rubs you the wrong way) that’s the most common sense of genial. You may also be familiar with its closely related meaning of “favorable to growth or comfort” as in “what a girl wants most on vacation is to recline in the genial sunshine.” Or perhaps you’ve heard genial used to describe someone or something displaying or marked by genius, as in “who among us doesn’t appreciate genial insights embedded in a beautiful pop song”? After all, both genial and genius share an ancestor in the Latin word genius, meaning “a person’s disposition or inclination.” There are also older, now-obsolete senses of genial. When it first entered English from the Latin adjective genialis (“connected with marriage”) it shared that word’s matrimonial meaning. And at one time genial was also a synonym of native or inborn, describing things (such as musical talent) present or seemingly present in someone from birth.
Examples of genial in a Sentence
Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 24 Apr. 2025
In his first weeks in office, Trump visited the state to survey the devastation, and Newsom greeted him at the airport for what appeared to be a genial conversation.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 16 Apr. 2025
Courtesy of Capella Taipei Beyond the design and genial service, the hotel’s collection of locally immersive activities for guests is truly superlative.
—Travis Levius, Travel + Leisure, 8 Apr. 2025
Using his advanced age to good use, De Niro is a charmer playing the genial, friendly grandpa front Hale uses to befriend the Osage and ingratiate himself into their community.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for genial
Cite this Entry
“Genial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genial. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
genial
adjective
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