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What's the difference between venal and venial?
If you are given the choice between acts that are venal and those that are venial, go for the venial. Although the two words look and sound alike, they have very different meanings and histories. Venal demonstrates the adage that anything can be had if the price is high enough and the morals are low enough. That word originated with the Latin venum, which simply referred to something that was sold or for sale. Some of those transactions must have been rather shady because by the mid-1600s, venal had gained the sense of corruption it carries today. Venial sins, on the other hand, are pardonable, the kind that show that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. That forgiving term descends from venia, Latin for "favor," "indulgence," or "pardon."
Examples of venal in a Sentence
Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, 10 Dec. 2019
They have also been undermined by myopic or venal leaders who have no interest in long-term global issues and refuse to take the problem seriously.
—William Nordhaus, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2020
But the military mostly exists on paper: There’s barely a chain of command and officers are notoriously venal.
—Emmet Livingstone, The Dial, 20 Mar. 2025
That entire ecosystem comes after and targets you in the most venal way.
—Milton Guevara, NPR, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for venal
Cite this Entry
“Venal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venal. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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