genial
adjUK /dʒɪˈnʌɪəl/ · US /d͡ʒəˈnaɪəl/
Etymology From Ancient Greek γένειον (géneion, “chin”) + -al.
genial
adjUK /ˈdʒiːnɪəl/ · US /ˈd͡ʒinjəl/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French génial, borrowed from Latin geniālis (“of or pertaining to marriage; festive”), from genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.
7 senses
1
Friendly and cheerful; enlivening.
- a genial glow
- 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.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:
4 more examples
- 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; […].1913, Henry James, A Small Boy and Others:
- There had been the shine of candles, and the laughter of the women, the old Judge's genial humor.1920, Temple Bailey, The Trumpeter Swan:
- 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.1953 March, Baynham Honri, “Filming "The Titfield Thunderbolt"”, in Railway Magazine, page 164:
- [Abdullah] Shami, a genial and open-faced man of forty-five, greeted me warmly.2001 July 9, Jeffrey Goldberg, “Letter From Gaza: The Martyr Strategy”, in The Atlantic:
2
Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences, Weather Especially Pleasantly mild and warm.
- genial warmth
- We met other families on the Long Walk, enjoying like ourselves the return of the genial season.1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
3
Uncommon Marked by genius.
- Men of genius have so often attacht the highest value to their less genial works.1826, Julius Hare, Guesses at Truth by Two Brothers:
- About fifty years later, in 1675, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer (1644-1710) had the genial idea of using astronomical rather than terrestrial distances.2003, Laura Fermi, Gilberto Bernardini, Galileo and the Scientific Revolution, Courier Dover Publications, page 111:
4
Archaic Pertaining to marriage; nuptial.
- the genial bed1667, 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:
5
Archaic, Broadly Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive.
- Creator Venus, genial power of love.1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- The well breath'd youth, hot-mettled, and flush with genial juices, was now fairly in for making me know my driver.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:
2 more examples
- 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.1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 85:
- The all-generating powers and genial heat / Of Nature, when she strikes thro’ the thick blood / Of cattle, […]1868, Alfred Tennyson, “Lucretius”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Chicago, Ill.: The Dominion Company, published 1897, →OCLC, page 777:
- natural incapacity and genial indisposition1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
7
Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences Roman, Uncommon Relating to or resembling a genius (Roman tutelary deity).
- Derived terms
- congenial, geniality, genialize, genially, genialness, overgenial, ungenial