See Also: venial(medicine)
venial(dictionary)
venial(dictionary)

venial (iou)



venial adjective & noun. ME.
[Old French (mod. veniel) from late Latin venialis, from venia forgiveness: see -AL1.]
A. adjective.
That may be pardoned or forgiven; not grave or heinous; light; Christian Theology (of sin) not entailing damnation (opp. deadly or mortal). ME.
J. Yeats Our own laws..punished forgery and even more venial crimes with death. B. Mason Quarrelling on Christmas Day! as though on any other day these sins were venial.
That may be excused or overlooked; unimportant, trivial. L16.
Sir W. Scott This is a venial error compared to that of our ancestors.
Allowable, permissible; blameless. poet. rare. L16-E18.
b. noun. A venial sin or offence; an excusable error. Long rare or obsolete. LME.
veni'ality noun (long rare) the state or condition of being venial E17.
venially adverb ME.
venialness noun (rare) E18.