definition of venial
veÂ·niÂ·al. adj. 1. Easily excused or forgiven; pardonable: a venial offense. 2. Roman Catholic Church Minor, therefore warranting only temporal punishment. venial sin, for you acted without evil intention. War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo View in context. Even theft, so venial a crime among the Indians, had recently been punished with hanging, by sentence of a chief.