ve·nal

(vē′nəl)

adj.

a. Open to bribery; mercenary: a venal police officer.

b. Characterized by corrupt dealings, especially bribery: a venal arrangement between the police and the drug dealers.

2. Archaic Obtainable for a price.

[Latin vēnālis, from vēnum, sale; see wes- in Indo-European roots.]

ve′nal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

venally - in a corrupt and deceitful manner; "he acted dishonestly when he gave the contract to his best friend"

deceitfully, dishonestly

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References in periodicals archive

The venally corrupt Ali Khamenei controls an estimated $200 billion corporate empire that includes hundreds of companies with interests in agriculture, energy, real estate and other sectors, so those who say the new sanctions are simply symbolic are mistaken.

'Sultan of Sugar': How Iran's hypocritical holymen profit while their people starve - Struan Stevenson

Rude and Hauptman (1993) report that theft of library collection has perpetually bestowed a haul for library administrators notably in university libraries: "A person is guilty of theft if he venally appropriates property happiness to a different with the intention of permanently depriving the opposite of it and outlaw and steal shall be construed consequently.

Disaster and Security Preparedness of Libraries in India

It is unlikely that they will be able to do so, plus it is quite likely that the venally corrupt mayor of Ventspils will be re-elected.

Year of 2017 better than 2016? Not sure

He had little motive in venally making the broadcasts to gain early release as he would have been released in a few months when turning 60 anyway, and evidently had no inkling that they would cause any offence, let alone fury, in England.

PG's tips: a light brew, sometimes lacking substance

And some of the partisan impact observed in the world will be "venally" caused by partisan considerations.

The partisanship spectrum

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