Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Easily excused or forgiven; pardonable.
  • adjective Roman Catholic Church Minor, therefore warranting only temporal punishment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • That may be forgiven; pardonable; not very sinful or wrong: as, a venial sin or transgression. See sin, 1.
  • Excusable; that may be allowed or permitted to pass without severe censure.
  • Permissible; harmless; unobjectionable.
  • Synonyms and Venial, Excusable, Pardonable. Excusable and pardonable are applied to things small and great, but pardonable primarily applies to greater offenses, as pardoning is a more serious act than excusing. Excusable may be applied where the offense is only in seeming. Venial applies to things actually done; the others may apply to infirmities and the like. Venial, by theological use, is often opposed, more or less clearly, to mortal.
  • noun A venial sin or offense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being forgiven; not heinous; excusable; pardonable.
  • adjective obsolete Allowed; permitted.
  • adjective (R. C. Theol.) a sin which weakens, but does not wholly destroy, sanctifying grace, as do mortal, or deadly, sins.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pardonable; able to be forgiven
  • adjective Excusable; trifling

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective warranting only temporal punishment
  • adjective easily excused or forgiven

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin veniālis, from Latin venia, forgiveness; see wen- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French venial, from Late Latin veniālis ("pardonable"), from Latin venia ("forgiveness")

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Examples

  • “Those sins are called venial sins,” Mary Catherine continues.

    Amaryllis in Blueberry Christina Meldrum 2011

  • “Those sins are called venial sins,” Mary Catherine continues.

    Amaryllis in Blueberry Christina Meldrum 2011

  • “Those sins are called venial sins,” Mary Catherine continues.

    Amaryllis in Blueberry Christina Meldrum 2011

  • Rome teaches, that is, purificatory and punitive), but probatory, not restricted to those dying in "venial sin"; the supposed intermediate class between those entering heaven at once, and those dying in mortal sin who go to hell, but universal, testing the godly and ungodly alike

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • To his mind, the venial were the more numerous, but then, he had been a cynic for many years now.

    The Lark And The Wren Lackey, Mercedes 1992

  • The difference can not be the same as betwixt sins that are called venial and mortal: for he says, that if a man pray for his brother, who commits a sin that is not to death, life shall be given him: therefore such a one had before lost the life of grace, and been guilty of what is commonly called a mortal sin.

    The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 69: 1 John The Challoner Revision

  • The difference can not be the same as betwixt sins that are called venial and mortal: for he says, that if a man pray for his brother, who commits a sin that is not to death, life shall be given him: therefore such a one had before lost the life of grace, and been guilty of what is commonly called a mortal sin.

    The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete Anonymous

  • Therefore gluttony is accounted among the lesser, that is to say venial, sins.

    Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas

  • The difference can not be the same as betwixt sins that are called venial and mortal: for he says, that if a man pray for his brother, who commits a sin that is not to death, life shall be given him: therefore such a one had before lost the life of grace, and been guilty of what is commonly called a mortal sin.

    The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete The Challoner Revision Anonymous

  • It is called venial precisely because, considered in its own proper nature, it is pardonable; in itself meriting, not eternal, but temporal punishment.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 14: Simony-Tournon 1840-1916 1913

Comments

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  • A venial sin is not a mortal sin.

    August 12, 2008

  • venial means to forgive or pardon

    His traffic violations ran the gamut from the venial to the egregious—on one occasion he simply did not come to a complete stop; another time he tried to escape across state lines at speeds in excess of 140 mph.

    October 29, 2017