vénal

See also: venal

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vēnālis (“for sale”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ve.nal/
  • Audio (Paris):(file)
  • Audio (France (Lyon)):(file)
  • Homophones: vénale, vénales

Adjective

vénal (feminine vénale, masculine plural vénaux, feminine plural vénales)

  1. (relational) sale
    valeur vénale ― sale price
  2. (of a person, derogatory) venal (available for a price)
    Near-synonyms: vendu, véreux, cupide
    • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères; republished as Eleanor Marx, transl., Madame Bovary, 1886:
      Parce que des lèvres libertines ou vénales lui avaient murmuré des phrases pareilles, il ne croyait que faiblement à la candeur de celles-là; […] .
      Because lips libertine and and venal had murmured such words to him, he believed but little in the candour of hers; […] .

Derived terms

Further reading

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