▪ I. venial, a.1 and n.
(ˈviːnɪəl)
Forms: α. 4 uenial, veniale, 4–7 veniall, 4– venial; 4–5 venyal (5 -ale), 4–6 venyall. β. 4 veniele, 4–5 veniel.
[a. OF. venial, veniel (mod.F. véniel, = Sp. and Pg. venial, It. veniale), or ad. L. veniālis (rare), f. venia forgiveness, indulgence, pardon.]
A. adj.
1. Worthy or admitting of pardon, forgiveness, or remission; not grave or heinous; pardonable, light: a. Of sin; spec. in Theol. as opposed to deadly or mortal.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27541 Bot þar-of es oþer sines smale, Þat clerkes clepes veniale. Ibid. 27545 Man cals þam venial and light. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2638 Þe saul þat es clensed wele Of al dedely syn and of veniele. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. 287 In þis wise skippith venial in to dedly synne. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems ix. 85 In venyale synne longe to byde, Makeþ dedly synnes to growe grete. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 60/2 To swere lyghtly without hurte or blame is venyal synne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 180 Whome no synne sholde defoule, neyther originall nor actuall, mortall ne venyall. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. i. 5 If he hath lightly offended in any venyall synne, he pardoneth him. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 83 If I but tutch, to tutch 's a veniall sin, The pretty circle of thy dimpled chin. 1682 Burnet Rights Princes Pref. 33 That it is only a Venial Sin in any, to lessen the great authority of another. a 1700 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. IX. 360 She had rather have suffered a thousand deaths, then wittingly commite y⊇ least veniall sinne. 1737 Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. (1753) 116 By what Rule shall a Person be able to make a Judgment whether his Sins be mortal or venial? 1830 Scott Demonol. ii. 56 The crime of the person who..consulted the oracle of Apollo;—a capital offence in a Jew, but surely a venial sin in an ignorant and deluded pagan. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 408 Those who have only committed venial sins are first purified of them. |
b. Of crimes, offences, etc.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 9 If they do nothing, 'tis a Veniall slip. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Sir Gregory Nonsence Wks. (1630) 4/1 The man that seeketh straying minds to weane all, From veniall vices, or offences penall. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. Pref. p. x, I hope it will be thought a venial Crime, if in some of these Meditations I have not aim'd to express Eloquence, but only to cherish Piety. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Sat. i. iv. 174 Thus, pure from more pernicious crimes I live: Some venial frailties you may well forgive. 1796 W. H. Marshall Rur. Econ. II. 115 The practice of pruning off the side boughs of Hedgerow Elms is a venial crime. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 56 Our own laws not long ago punished forgery and even more venial crimes with death. 1876 Farrar Marlb. Serm. xiv. 134 Laughter may be the right cure for venial follies. |
† c. Of an offender: Committing a venial sin or offence. Obs.—1
| 1796 F. Burney Camilla I. 225 The venial offender had been released with a gentle reprimand. |
2. a. Of an error or fault: That may be excused or overlooked; of a light, unimportant, or trivial nature; excusable.
| 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 66 b, Whereby we may gather, that if the fault in wordes be veniall, the fault in sentence and matter be mortall. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. ix. 243 In the prosecuting and managing thereof, many not only veniall errours but unexcusable faults were committed. 1699 Bentley Phal. 326 He thinks it a more venial fault to make a mistake at Second hand after others. 1735 Bolingbroke On Parties xix. 235 He, who would have been ashamed to participate in Fraud, or to yield to Corruption, may begin to think the Faults venial, when he sees Men, who were far below Him, rise above Him by Fraud and by Corruption. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 418 Witness at his foot, The spaniel dying, for some venial fault. 1825 Scott Betrothed Concl., This is a venial error compared to that of our ancestors. 1876 Farrar Marlb. Serm. xxxvi. 362 If a boy has committed some..quite venial fault. |
b. In general use.
| 1806 in Mrs. Hutchinson's Mem. of Col. H. 304 note, The account here given of Col. Hutchinson's motives..lays his conduct fairly open to the discussion..of the reader, who..will determine it for himself to be commendable, censurable, or venial. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 138 This was indeed a gross delusion, but, assuredly for young men at least, a very venial one too. 1850 W. Irving Mahomet xvi. (1853) 96 An act of plunder and revenge—a venial act in the eyes of the Arabs. 1880 R. G. White Every-Day Eng. 79 Mere provincialism in pronunciation..is venial in comparison with slovenly speech. |
† 3. Allowable, permissible; blameless. rare.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxi. §8 The Iewes..not doubting that bodily labours are made by necessitie veniall, though otherwise, especially on that day [i.e. the Sabbath], rest be more conuenient. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 5 Where God..With Man..familiar us'd To sit indulgent,..permitting him the while Venial discourse unblam'd. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 219 With venial freedom let me now demand Thy name, thy lineage, and paternal land. |
B. n. A venial sin or offence; a light fault or error. Now rare.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 452 Þouȝ þis be synne, ȝit it is venyal, and not dedly, and venyals ben waschen awey wiþ preieris of a Pater-noster. a 1395 Hylton Scala Perf. i. xxxiii. (W. de W. 1494), Neuertheles yet shalt thou for this defawte & all other venyals whyche may not be eschewed in this wretchyd lyf lyft up thyn hert to god. c 1425 St. Mary of Oignies i. vi. in Anglia VIII. 138/47 Þof she so eshewed fro smal [sins] and veniels. c 1540 Schole House Women (1572) D iij b, And were not two small venialles, The feminine might be glorifide. 1596 Bell Surv. Popery iii. ix. 364 Howsoeuer our late papists flatter themselues in their venials. 1609 Bp. Hall Disswas. Poperie Wks. (1627) 642 It..gently blanches ouer the breaches of Gods law with the name of venialls, and fauourable titles of diminution. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa i. iv. 15, I was careful not to commit any Mortal sin;..but of Venials I made no great account. 1969 J. D. Crichton in J. Fitzsimons Penance ii. 32 One thing that the present system inhibits, with..its neat parcels of ‘mortals’ and ‘venials’—the sin-grid, in fact—is the expression of the diffused feeling of sinfulness. |
▪ II. † ˈvenial, a.2 Obs. rare.
[Irreg. var. of venal a.2]
Venous.
| 1574 J. Jones Nat. Beginn. Growing & Living Things 8 When the heart is opened, it receueth Aire by the veniall arterie. 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 70 Galen seemeth rather willyng to call this veyne a certaine veniall passage or way. |