Venality

//vɪˈnælɪti// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The fact or state of being for sale, especially with reference to bribes or corruption. countable, uncountable

    "1785, The Times, 17 Jan 1785, p.1 col. B As your spirited paper has declared war, not only against venality and despotism, but was intended to correct follies and abuses in private life, I hope the following will come within its useful plan."

  2. 2
    prostitution of talents or offices or services for reward wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
corruptionvice

Example

More examples

"1785, The Times, 17 Jan 1785, p.1 col. B As your spirited paper has declared war, not only against venality and despotism, but was intended to correct follies and abuses in private life, I hope the following will come within its useful plan."

Etymology

From venal + -ity, from French vénalité or Latin vēnālitās, from vēnālis (“venal”), from vēnum; compare English vend.

Related phrases

for sale

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.