What is the difference between bribe and venal?
bribe | venal |
Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to dishonesty.
* Hobart
That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
* Akenside
To give a to.
* F. W. Robertson
To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.
(archaic) For sale; available for purchase.
Of a position, privilege etc.: available for purchase rather than assigned on merit.
* 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 140:
Capable of being bought (of a person); willing to take bribes.
Corrupt, mercenary.
* 1785 , The Times , 9 Feb 1785, page 1, column C:
As a noun bribe
is something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to dishonesty.As a verb bribe
is to give a to.As a adjective venal is
venous; pertaining to veins or venal can be (archaic) for sale; available for purchase.bribe
English
Noun
(en noun)- Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe .
- Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.
Synonyms
* See alsoVerb
(brib)- Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.
- to bribe somebody's compliance
venal
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl)Etymology 2
From (etyl) , compare vendAdjective
(en adjective)- Thus, regimental commands in the army were – as with the judiciary or the financial bureaucracy – venal posts, which were purchased, bequeathed and sold among the nobility.
- Though there is a disposition in mankind, to declaim against the corruption and peculation of the present times, as being more venal than formerly; yet, if we look back to different periods, we shall find statesmen and politicians, as selfish and corrupt, (...) as those who have lately figured on the political stage.
