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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
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2025
Or were the Arabs in Palestine done in again and again by inflexible, wrongheaded, venal, and corrupt leadership?
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2025
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1997 adaptation, featuring Matt Damon, Danny DeVito and a deliciously venal Jon Voight, only upped the ante on the frustration generated by two sectors sacrificing ideals for profit.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2025
Often in host countries with poor governance a gray economy emerges where undocumented migrants must bribe venal officials for documentation to live or work.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 1 Aug. 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 4 Nov. 2025.
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