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venial
[ vee-nee-uhl, veen-yuhl ]
adjective
- able to be forgiven or pardoned; not seriously wrong, as a sin ( mortal ).
- excusable; trifling; minor:
a venial error; a venial offense.
Synonyms: forgivable, pardonable, slight
venial
/ ˈviːnɪəl; ˌviːnɪ'ælɪtɪ /
adjective
- easily excused or forgiven
a venial error
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Derived Forms
- veniality, noun
- ˈvenially, adverb
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Other Words From
- veni·ali·ty veni·al·ness noun
- veni·al·ly adverb
- un·veni·al adjective
- un·veni·al·ly adverb
- un·veni·al·ness noun
- unve·ni·ali·ty noun
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of venial1
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Example Sentences
Conventionality is the most venial of all moviemaking sins, if it’s a sin at all.
The SEC charging Goldman with securities fraud is like the Vatican charging a priest with venial sin.
The child, who teaches its grandmother to suck eggs, commits a venial fault in comparison.
Its greatest fault was not extravagance, for that is a venial folly, but ignorance, which even youth cannot wholly excuse.
In these hopeful moods it was a necessity of his drama that his transgression of the law should seem venial to him.
Play, in men whose means are ample, if considered a vice, is thought a very venial one.
Those who have only committed venial sins are first purified of them, and then rewarded for the good which they have done.
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