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venal - 5 dictionary results
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ve⋅nal
[veen-l] 
l
–adjective
| 1. | willing to sell one's influence, esp. in return for a bribe; open to bribery; mercenary: a venal judge. |
| 2. | able to be purchased, as by a bribe: venal acquittals. |
| 3. | associated with or characterized by bribery: a venal administration; venal agreements. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To venal
| ve·nal (vē'nəl) adj.
[Latin vēnālis, from vēnum, sale; see wes-3 in Indo-European roots.] ve'nal·ly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Venal
Ve"nal\, a. [L. vena a vein.] Of or pertaining to veins; venous; as, venal blood. [R.]Venal
Ve"nal\, a. [L. venalis, from venus sale; akin to Gr. ? price, Skr. vasna: cf. F. v['e]nal.] Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; made matter of trade or barter; held for sale; salable; mercenary; purchasable; hireling; as, venal services. " Paid court to venal beauties." --Macaulay. The venal cry and prepared vote of a passive senate. --Burke. Syn: Mercenary; hireling; vendible. Usage: Venal, Mercenary. One is mercenary who is either actually a hireling (as, mercenary soldiers, a mercenary judge, etc.), or is governed by a sordid love of gain; hence, we speak of mercenary motives, a mercenary marriage, etc. Venal goes further, and supposes either an actual purchase, or a readiness to be purchased, which places a person or thing wholly in the power of the purchaser; as, a venal press. Brissot played ingeniously on the latter word in his celebrated saying, " My pen is venal that it may not be mercenary," meaning that he wrote books, and sold them to the publishers, in order to avoid the necessity of being the hireling of any political party. Thus needy wits a vile revenue made, And verse became a mercenary trade. --Dryden. This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse This, from no venal or ungrateful muse. --Pope.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : venal
Spanish:
deshonesto, venal, pérfido,
German:
unehrlich,
Japanese:
不正直な
venal
1652, "offered for sale, capable of being obtained for a price," from Fr. vénal, from L. venalis "that is for sale," from venum (nom. *venus) "for sale," from PIE base *wes- "to buy, sell" (cf. Skt. vasnah "purchase money," vasnam "reward," vasnayati "he bargains, haggles;" Gk. onos "price paid, purchase," oneisthai "to buy"). Venality is attested from 1611, from L.L. venalitatem (nom. venalitas) "capable of being bought," from venalis.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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