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venal

[veen-l]

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adjective

willing to sell one's influence, especially in return for a bribe; open to bribery; mercenary: a venal judge.

able to be purchased, as by a bribe: venal acquittals.

associated with or characterized by bribery: a venal administration; venal agreements.

Origin:
1645–55; < Latin vēnālis, equivalent to vēn(um) (accusative) for sale (compare vend) + -ālis -al¹

Related forms

ve·nal·ly, adverb

non·ve·nal, adjective

non·ve·nal·ly, adverb

un·ve·nal, adjective

Can be confused: veinal, venal, venery, venial.

Synonyms
1. bribable, corruptible. See corrupt.

Antonyms
1. incorruptible.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Venal is a GRE word you need to know.

So is plastic. Does it mean:

out of the right way; off the correct or known road or path

capable of being molded or of receiving form; pliable and impressionable

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Example Sentences

Mayors were either the venal bosses of dishonest machines or figureheads for the bosses.

What a shame he never turned his hand to the venal dictators of his, and our, time.

Russia's venal and vindictive court system is hardly more humane or just.

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Mayors were either the venal bosses of dishonest machines or figureheads for the bosses.

What a shame he never turned his hand to the venal dictators of his, and our, time.

Russia's venal and vindictive court system is hardly more humane or just.

It's all well and good to rail about evil chemical companies or venal politicians.

It is one thing to be seen as venal but brilliant, and another to be seen as both greedy and stupid.

One rarely encounters a venal person in higher education.

Venal and inept, his government surely needs to be replaced.

Even many of his critics see him as a deluded knight-errant rather than as a venal opportunist.

They may make a mess of governing the states they have won, or prove as venal as those they have replaced.

Looking at what consumers can do to avoid being bitten twice first by the vermin and then by a venal exterminator.

He could try to fight impeachment in parliament, by cajoling venal politicians there.

In the real world, relatives abandon their ill loved ones or have venal motives in desiring their early demise.

No longer would the former general be beholden to venal political parties.

The courage politicians organize their energies by picking fights with venal foes.

He is the man of unbending principle, not a venal office-seeker.

But the courts, many of them staffed by venal judges who have never dealt with bankruptcy before, are out of their depth.

Whatever sin you committed to end up in one of those must have been comparatively venal.

Leave aside any discussion of corrupt business leaders or venal politicians.

Dion poses as an art restorer telling stories about the venal and stupid things his colleagues.

Rosen is seen as the embodiment of a venal corporate culture hurtling toward obsolescence.

The same cunning maidservant outwits another foolish and venal official.

The official version of health peddled by our current system is not only venal but potentially noxious.

The waste was depressing and also the venal stench that is the perfume of the business.

We googling search committee members are not venal or dumb.

The priests are fat-bellied and venal and the blacks infinitely patient with the idiosyncracies of the civilized.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

venal (ˈviːn^əl)

—*adj*
1.	easily bribed or corrupted; mercenary: a venal magistrate
2.	characterized by corruption: a venal civilization
3.	open to purchase, esp by bribery: a venal contract

[C17: from Latin vēnālis, from vēnum sale]

venality

—n

'venally

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

venal

1650s, "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,

EXPAND

purchase," oneisthai "to buy").

COLLAPSE

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Related Words

grasping mercenary purchasable

purchasable venality

Matching Quote

"Let those flatter, who fear: it is not an American art. To give praise where it is not due, might be well from the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature."

-Thomas Jefferson

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