John Milton
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Warm, cheerful, and pleasant? That’s genial in a bottle, baby. Or at least (if such a declaration rubs you the wrong way) that’s the most common sense of genial. You may also be familiar with its closely related meaning of “favorable to growth or comfort” as in “what a girl wants most on vacation is to recline in the genial sunshine.” Or perhaps you’ve heard genial used to describe someone or something displaying or marked by genius, as in “who among us doesn’t appreciate genial insights embedded in a beautiful pop song”? After all, both genial and genius share an ancestor in the Latin word genius, meaning “a person’s disposition or inclination.” There are also older, now-obsolete senses of genial. When it first entered English from the Latin adjective genialis (“connected with marriage”) it shared that word’s matrimonial meaning. And at one time genial was also a synonym of native or inborn, describing things (such as musical talent) present or seemingly present in someone from birth.
Synonyms
Examples of genial in a Sentence
Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 17 June 2024
In Herzog and Gold’s rendering, the act emerges organically out of the genial disorder of roughly 700 people jumping at the chance for free drinks.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2024
Gary DeFilippo, the genial former Shelton town committee chair and motor vehicles commissioner whom Kelly brought in a month ago as interim chief of staff, is out.
—Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 23 Feb. 2024
The accusations threatened to puncture Corden’s image as a genial entertainer and relatable, easy-going celebrity.
—Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 3 June 2024
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'genial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Genial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genial. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
genial
adjective
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