venality

[ vee-nal-i-tee, vuh- ]

noun

1. the condition or quality of being venal; openness to bribery or corruption.

Word History and Origins

Origin of venality¹

From the Late Latin word vēnālitas, dating back to 1605–15. See venal, -ity

Example Sentences

It’s a reminder that the grandest plans for fighting climate change can fall prey to simple human venality.

From MIT Technology Review

Over 900,000 Americans are likely dead of this disease, many of them because of the incompetence, self-serving politics and venality of the last administration.

From The Daily Beast

Even now, he is unwilling to take responsibility for the venality that landed him in jail.

From The Daily Beast

There was much talk of jobs and fairness and the enduring venality of Marco Rubio.

From The Daily Beast

But as Palin also demonstrated, eventually, evidence of venality and incompetence seeps in with the public at large.

From The Daily Beast

On the contrary, vanity more than venality was the problem at the top in Egypt.

From The Daily Beast

He was a reformer of abuses, publishing the most severe acts against venality, and deciding quarrels on principles of justice.

From Project Gutenberg

He saw the power of reconstruction, its ignorance, its venality accentuated to a degree that provoked his abhorrence.

From Project Gutenberg

A Parliament which has exhibited its venality so openly can have little pretension to public confidence.

From Project Gutenberg

He knows the corrupt workings of politicians, the venality of biased courts, the weakness of the human heart when tempted by gold.

From Project Gutenberg

There was nothing shocking in all this venality to the bulk of the Johannesburg speculator class and others of that category.

From Project Gutenberg