genial en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈdʒiːnɪəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /-ni.əl/ (General-American)
- /ˈd͡ʒinjəl/ (General-American)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French génial, borrowed from Latin geniālis (“of or pertaining to marriage; festive”), from genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.
Meanings
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Friendly and cheerful; enlivening.
a genial glow
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.
2025 November 15, Robert Draper, “Once He Was ‘Just Asking Questions.’ Now Tucker Carlson Is the Question.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →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.
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:[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: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: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: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:
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(especially) Pleasantly mild and warm.
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:genial warmth
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(uncommon) Marked by genius.
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:Men of genius have so often attacht the highest value to their less genial works.
1826, Julius Hare, Guesses at Truth by Two Brothers:
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(archaic, qualifier:originally) Pertaining to marriage; nuptial.
the genial bed
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:
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(archaic, broadly) Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive.
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: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: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:
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(obsolete, uncommon) Belonging to one's genius or natural character; native; natural; inborn.
natural incapacity and genial indisposition
1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
- (Roman, uncommon) Relating to or resembling a genius (Roman tutelary deity).
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more genial | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most genial | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
genially · genialize · ungenial · congenial · overgenial · geniality · genialness
Translations (35)
fi leuto (pleasantly mild and warm) · nl geniaal (marked by genius) · fi ystävällinen (friendly and cheerful) · ka გენიალური (marked by genius) · ka მეგობრული (friendly and cheerful) · mi hūmārika (friendly and cheerful) · hu zseniális (marked by genius) · fr génial (marked by genius) · be генія́льны (marked by genius) · ka რბილი (pleasantly mild and warm) · ka გულთბილი (friendly and cheerful) · ru дружелю́бный (friendly and cheerful) · da genial (marked by genius) · ka კეთილი (friendly and cheerful) · sv genial (marked by genius) · bg гениален (marked by genius) · es campechano (friendly and cheerful) · ka თბილი (pleasantly mild and warm) · cy rhadlon (friendly and cheerful) · ka გულთბილი (pleasantly mild and warm) · fi leppeä (pleasantly mild and warm) · uk геніа́льний (marked by genius) · mi hūmārie (friendly and cheerful) · bg дружелюбен (friendly and cheerful) · ru раду́шный (friendly and cheerful) · pt genial (marked by genius) · bg мек (pleasantly mild and warm) · fi nerokas (marked by genius) · pdt schaftich (friendly and cheerful) · ru гениа́льный (marked by genius) · pl genialny (marked by genius) · de genial (marked by genius) · bg общителен (friendly and cheerful) · fi lempeä (friendly and cheerful) · mi hātai (friendly and cheerful)