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
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
The cowboy humorist saw politics as an endeavor for genial discussion, not a blood sport.
—Steven Watts, The Conversation, 23 Sep. 2024
She was joined by comedian Jim Gaffigan as Walz, Harris’ genial running mate.
—Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2024
But there is a kindness about her, a genial demeanor that serves an early-morning audience perfectly.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 26 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Genial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genial. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
genial
adjective
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