LINK / CITE ADD TO WORD LIST. adjective. The definition of genial is warm, cheerful, good for life or comfort. 1  An example of genial used as an adjective is a genial person which means a very friendly person.2  An example of genial used as an adjective is genial soil which means soil good for growing plants. What a genial person he was. 2  The Letters, which are very stilted, also reveal Apollinaris as a man of genial temper, fond of good living and of pleasure. 3  She renounced once for all the asceticism and isolation of the De imitatione for the more genial and sympathetic Christianity of Chateaubriand.