What's the difference between genial and venial?

Genial


Definition:

  • (a.) Same as Genian.
  • (a.) Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive.
  • (a.) Contributing to, and sympathizing with, the enjoyment of life; sympathetically cheerful and cheering; jovial and inspiring joy or happiness; exciting pleasure and sympathy; enlivening; kindly; as, she was of a cheerful and genial disposition.
  • (a.) Belonging to one's genius or natural character; native; natural; inborn.
  • (a.) Denoting or marked with genius; belonging to the higher nature.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) What's more, his genial stiffness and shy self-awareness give him a kind of awkward dignity compared to the preening smugness of Cruz.
  • (2) Statues portray him riding a horse in triumph or genially waving to the tour groups waiting to see his museum.
  • (3) (A little later, I watch director Foley ask a genially menacing professor Capaldi to lift, and lift, and lift, the needle from a record in, I think it was, 12 different ways, to get it just so; I think "stickler" is fair.)
  • (4) He has generally been appreciated by journalists for his accessibility and geniality – and, as Guardian readers and Thought for the Day listeners to Radio 4's Today programme know, his ability to present a coherent and challenging message cogently and to deadlines.
  • (5) Sentencing him at Preston crown court, Anthony Russell QC said Hall was known to the public for his genial personality but had a darker side.
  • (6) Review of all available information indicates that conservative management is the treatment of choice for fractures of genial tubercles.
  • (7) It’s called the Green party, so let’s not sink together, let’s sail together!” Johnson, the genial former Republican governor of a Democratic state, New Mexico, was popular in office, lowering state taxes, expanding jobs and attracting more businesses.
  • (8) Thomson swiftly raised the stakes with more investment and commercial drive; but David welcomed the arrival of this genial newcomer with pebble glasses who was prepared to give his editors independence: and he was furious when the paper published a critical profile of Thomson while he was on holiday.
  • (9) The nearest he had got to show business was appearing, with the encouragement of his genial Uncle Lew, at the Rex Cinema, Haslemere , Surrey, for a Sunday afternoon talent concert.
  • (10) Wasn’t it unbecoming of the man dubbed the new Terrence Malick to direct scenes with genial tokers discussing pioneering methods of joint construction , or hookah-puffing sex-pest wizards ?
  • (11) Herpes simplex virus was isolated from 30 of 57 patients clinically diagnosed as suffering from a herpetic or herpetic-like genial infection for a virological incidence rate of 0.31%.
  • (12) "This game is being played like a school ground game of First-to-Ten-Goals-Wins, and Big Phil is looking on like the genial master thinking 'boys will be boys'," writes Justin Kavanagh.
  • (13) But despite sharp intelligence, willingness to put in 18-hour work days, and a genial, low-key manner, Wolfowitz has never before held a leadership position.
  • (14) With a huge open fireplace in the middle of the dining room, this is a where to come for "carne alla griglia" – huge T-Bone steaks, veal and lamb chops, spit-roasted rabbit, chicken and pork – expertly prepared by the genial owner, Derio Vezzier.
  • (15) A case of spontaneous fracture of hypertrophied genial tubercles is reported.
  • (16) Standing next to a freshly planted bed of onions, potatoes, garlic and collard greens, Covington is a genial soul with gentleness built into a giant physical frame that could play American football.
  • (17) During one of the shorthand breaks, I’m tapping out an email on my phone when I hear a voice say: “Where are you from?” He’s polite, genial, complimentary about the Guardian’s coverage, charming in a brittle sort of way, and it’s probably unfair that I feel a bit as if he’s asked which school I went to.
  • (18) Over lunch at Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel, Mac played the genial host with a dash of the elder statesman.
  • (19) A film and pop music buff, D'Ancona is witty, genial and fogeyish.
  • (20) For Donald Trump it will be a weekend of relaxation in familiar surroundings, a round of golf with the Japanese prime minister on his beloved south Florida course and an opportunity to play the genial host at the exclusive members-only Palm Beach club that Trump has dubbed the “winter White House”.

Venial


Definition:

  • (a.) Capable of being forgiven; not heinous; excusable; pardonable; as, a venial fault or transgression.
  • (a.) Allowed; permitted.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Based upon our previous experience on the treatment of meningococcal infections with satisfactory evolution when the fourth day of therapy was finalized and taking into account published experiences with four or less days of therapy, we realized a study on the efficacy of a four days therapy when venial meningococcal infections but of seven days when the serious ones.
  • (2) It is argued that obvious statistical blunders (mortal sins) have not disappeared entirely from the aging literature, but that the most frequent error now is that of choosing a less powerful analytic solution when a more powerful (and equally applicable) one is at hand (a venial sin).