Word.ws English Dictionary

genial

Syllables: ge·ni·alUK/ˈdʒiːnɪəl//ˈd͡ʒinjəl/

genial adjective: friendly and cheerful; enlivening.

genial: man in red crew neck shirt
Photo by Nicolas Horn on Unsplash

Adjective (1)

genial (comparative more genial, superlative most genial)

  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
  2. (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, originally) 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...
  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
  6. (obsolete, uncommon) Belonging to one's genius or natural character; native; natural; inborn.
    • 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. (Roman, uncommon) Relating to or resembling a genius (Roman tutelary deity).

Adjective (2)

UK/dʒɪˈnʌɪəl/US/d͡ʒəˈnaɪəl/

genial (not comparable)

  1. Relating to the chin; genian.

genial meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

genial in Tamil

இன்முகமுள்ள, சுமுகமான, தாவாய், மோவாய், முகவாய்

genial in Urdu

فرحت افزا, ہمدرد, خلیق, خوش اخلاق, ملنسار, نیک دل

genial in Bengali

বন্ধুসুলভ, অমায়িক

genial in Malayalam

ആനന്ദകരമായ, ആരോഗ്യകരമായ, ദയാലുവായ, പ്രകൃതമായ
More languagesFewer languages
genial in Kannada
ಉತ್ಸಾಹದ, ಗೆಲುವಿನ, ಉಲ್ಲಾಸದ, ನಗುಮುಖದ

Examples of genial in a sentence

  • 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:
  • [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:
  • 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...

All 29 example sentences with genial

Forms of genial

comparativemore genial
superlativemost genial

Origin of genial

Borrowed from Middle French génial, borrowed from Latin geniālis (“of or pertaining to marriage; festive”), from genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.

From Ancient Greek γένειον (géneion, “chin”) + -al.

Words formed from genial

Questions about genial

What does genial mean?
Genial means friendly and cheerful; enlivening.
What is genial in Tamil?
Genial in Tamil is இன்முகமுள்ள, சுமுகமான, தாவாய். See Genial meaning in Tamil.
How do you use genial in a sentence?
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; […].
What part of speech is genial?
Genial is an adjective.
How do you pronounce genial?
Genial is pronounced /ˈdʒiːnɪəl/ (UK).

Words near genial in the dictionary

  1. gengivectomy
  2. Gengler
  3. Genglers
  4. Gengs
  5. Genhe
  6. genial
  7. genialise
  8. genialised
  9. genialises
  10. genialising
  11. genialities

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: genial (page history and authors); genial (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genial (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genial (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genial (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genial (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-genial.ogg.

Cite this entry: “genial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/genial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.