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Fatal vs Venal - What's the difference?

fatal | venal |

As adjectives the difference between fatal and venal

is that fatal is proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny while venal is available for a price; venal.

As a noun fatal

is a fatality; an event that leads to death.

fatal

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • Foreboding]] or great [[#Noun, disaster.
  • *
  • *:Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
  • Causing death or destruction.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Philip J. Bushnell
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance , passage=Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.}}
  • (lb) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (proceeding from fate) inevitable, necessary * (foreboding death) terminal * (causing death) calamitous, deadly, destructive, mortal

    Derived terms

    * fatalism * fatalistic * fatality * fatally * nonfatal * nonfatally

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fatality; an event that leads to death.
  • * 1999 , Flying Magazine (volume 126, number 4, April 1999, page 15)
  • The best accident rate in general aviation is in corporate/executive flying at 0.17 per 100000 hours for fatals and .50 for total accidents.
  • (computing) A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    venal

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • venous; pertaining to veins
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , compare vend

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (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:
  • 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.
  • Capable of being bought (of a person); willing to take bribes.
  • Corrupt, mercenary.
  • * 1785 , The Times , 9 Feb 1785, page 1, column C:
  • 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.
    Synonyms
    * (for sale) purchasable * (willing to take bribes) crooked
    Antonyms
    * (willing to take bribes) straight, honest, uncorrupt

    Anagrams

    * *