A venial fault or mistake is a small one — not serious, easy to forgive. 'A venial sin', 'a venial error', 'his lateness was venial'. The word does not say the thing was fine; it says it was wrong but not worth making a fuss about. The word comes out of Catholic teaching, where sins are divided into two kinds: mortal sins, which are grave and cut you off from God, and venial sins, which are minor and do not. That religious pair is still the main home of the word, and 'venial sin' is by far its most common phrase. Outside religion it survives in formal and literary writing as a slightly playful, educated way of forgiving a small failing: 'a venial piece of vanity', 'venial as such crimes go'. Be honest with yourself about the register: this is a rare word. You will not need it in speech, and in ordinary writing 'minor', 'small', or 'forgivable' will serve you better. What you need is to recognise it when you read it, and to catch the tone — a writer who calls something venial is usually smiling slightly while excusing it.

可寬恕的；輕微的(過失);(天主教)小罪、可赦之罪