VENALLY

dishonestly, venally, deceitfully

(adverb) in a corrupt and deceitful manner; “he acted dishonestly when he gave the contract to his best friend”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adverb

venally (comparative more venally, superlative most venally)

In a venal fashion; mercenarily or in a manner subject to corruption.

Source: Wiktionary


Ve"nal*ly, adv.

Definition: In a venal manner.

VENAL

Ve"nal, a. Etym: [L. vena a vein.]

Definition: Of or pertaining to veins; venous; as, venal blood. [R.]

Ve"nal, a. Etym: [L. venalis, from venus sale; akin to Gr. vasna: cf. F. vénal.]

Definition: 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.

– 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

31 March 2025

IMPROVISED

(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

coffee icon