Venal vs Penal - What's the difference?
venal | penal |
(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:
Of or relating to punishment.
Subject to punishment; punishable.
Serving as a place of punishment.
As adjectives the difference between venal and penal
is that venal is venous; pertaining to veins while penal is of or relating to punishment.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.
Synonyms
* (for sale) purchasable * (willing to take bribes) crookedAntonyms
* (willing to take bribes) straight, honest, uncorruptAnagrams
* *penal
English
Alternative forms
* * * (l) (obsolete) * (archaic) * (obsolete)Adjective
(-)- penal servitude
- a penal offence
- a penal colony