genial

From Middle French génial, from Latin geniālis (“of or pertaining to marriage; festive, genial”), from genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒiːnɪəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒinjəl/, /-ni.əl/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -iːnɪəl
• Hyphenation: ge‧ni‧al

genial (comparative more genial, superlative most genial)

1. Friendly and cheerful; enlivening.

   a genial glow

   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “(please specify the page)”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Such a face was calculated to awaken not only the calm sentiment of esteem, the distant one of admiration, but some feeling more tender, genial, intimate—friendship, perhaps, affection, interest.

   • 1913, Henry James, A Small Boy and Others‎^[1]:

     This genial girl, like her brother, was in the grand situation of having no home and of carrying on life, such a splendid kind of life, by successive visits to relations; […] .

   • 1920, Temple Bailey, The Trumpeter Swan‎^[2]:

     There had been the shine of candles, and the laughter of the women, the old Judge's genial humor.

   • 1953 March, Baynham Honri, “Filming "The Titfield Thunderbolt"”, in Railway Magazine, page 164:

     George Relph plays the part of the Vicar of the Parish, a railway enthusiast, who becomes amateur engine driver, with Sir Godfrey Tearle (the Bishop) as his fireman, while Stanley Holloway is the genial toper who provides the cash to buy the line.

   • 2001 July 9, Jeffrey Goldberg, “Letter From Gaza: The Martyr Strategy”, in The Atlantic‎^[3]:

     [Abdullah] Shami, a genial and open-faced man of forty-five, greeted me warmly.

   • 2025 November 15, Robert Draper, “Once He Was ‘Just Asking Questions.’ Now Tucker Carlson Is the Question.”, in The New York Times‎^[4], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Last month, Tucker Carlson’s genial interview with the white nationalist Nick Fuentes detonated a bomb that further fractured the Trump-era conservative movement he once helped galvanize.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (especially weather) Pleasantly mild and warm.

   genial warmth

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     We met other families on the Long Walk, enjoying like ourselves the return of the genial season.

3. (uncommon) Marked by genius.
   • 1826, Julius Hare, Guesses at Truth by Two Brothers:

     Men of genius have so often attacht the highest value to their less genial works.

   • 2003, Laura Fermi, Gilberto Bernardini, Galileo and the Scientific Revolution, Courier Dover Publications, page 111:

     About fifty years later, in 1675, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer (1644-1710) had the genial idea of using astronomical rather than terrestrial distances.

4. (archaic, originally) Pertaining to marriage; nuptial.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     the genial bed

5. (archaic, by extension) Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Creator Venus, genial power of love.

   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     The well breath'd youth, hot-mettled, and flush with genial juices, was now fairly in for making me know my driver.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 85:

     In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their cooking, in the thawed blotch of wet above each baker's oven; where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too.

   • 1868, Alfred Tennyson, “Lucretius”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 777:

     The all-generating powers and genial heat / Of Nature, when she strikes thro’ the thick blood / Of cattle, […]

6. (uncommon, obsolete) Belonging to one's genius or natural character; native; natural; inborn.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     natural incapacity and genial indisposition

7. (uncommon, Roman mythology) Relating to or resembling a genius (Roman tutelary deity).

From Ancient Greek γένειον (géneion, “chin”) + -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dʒɪˈnʌɪəl/, /-ˈniːəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈnaɪəl/, /-ˈni.əl/
• Rhymes: (General American) -aɪəl
• Hyphenation: ge‧ni‧al

genial (not comparable)

1. (anatomy) Relating to the chin; genian.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors ((Can we date this quote?)), “genial”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• Ealing, galine, igneal, Neglia, linage, Eaglin

Borrowed from Latin geniālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ʒə.niˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [d͡ʒe.niˈal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

genial m or f (masculine and feminine plural genials)

1. genius
2. brilliant, great

• genialment

• geni
• genialitat

• “genial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Clipping of earlier genialisch.

• IPA^(key): /ɡeˈni̯aːl/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

genial (strong nominative masculine singular genialer, comparative genialer, superlative am genialsten)

1. genius, ingenious, genial (in the sense of genius)
2. (colloquial) excellent

   Synonyms: klasse, hervorragend

• kongenial

• “genial” in Duden online
• “genial” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Latin genialis.

genial (neuter singular genialt, definite singular and plural geniale)

1. ingenious, brilliant

• geni

• “genial” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin genialis.

genial (neuter singular genialt, definite singular and plural geniale)

1. ingenious, brilliant

• geni

• “genial” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: ge‧ni‧al

genial m or f (plural geniais)

1. genial (marked by genius)
2. genius (very clever)

• genialmente

• “genial”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “genial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French génial.

genial m or n (feminine singular genială, masculine plural geniali, feminine/neuter plural geniale)

1. (literally) ingenious, characteristic of a genius
2. (informal) great, fantastic, awesome

Borrowed from Latin geniālis (“of or relating to marriage; festive, genial”), from genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.

• IPA^(key): /xeˈnjal/ [xeˈnjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ge‧nial

genial m or f (masculine and feminine plural geniales)

1. genial, pleasant
2. great, cool, neat

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:guay

   ¡Espero que hoy te vaya genial!

   I hope your day goes great!

3. splendid, gorgeous

   Synonym: espléndido

4. ingenious

   Synonym: ingenioso

• “genial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

genial (comparative genialare, superlative genialast)

1. brilliant, "genius"

   Synonym: genialisk

   en genial lösning

   a brilliant solution

• sinnrik (“ingenious”)

• genial in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• genial in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• genial in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)