a. [mod. f. L. con- together + geniāl-is, f. genius: see GENIAL, GENIUS. Cf. F. congénial: prob. a mod.L. congeniālis preceded both.]
1. Of persons and their attributes: Partaking of the same genius, disposition, or temperament; kindred, sympathetic. Const. with (sometimes to).
a. 1639. Wotton, in Reliq. (1672), 163. He [the Duke of Buckingham] sprung without any help, by a kind of congenial composure (as we may term it) to the likeness of our late Soveraign and Master of blessed memory.
1647. Berkenhead, On Fletcher’s Wks. Fletcher’s keen trebble, and deep Beaumont’s base, Two, full, congenial souls.
1700. Dryden, Fables, Pref. (Globe), 503. I found I had a soul congenial to his [Chaucer’s].
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1753. His religious and political notions [were] so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, I. xv. 137. With a soul congenial to the noblest.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. vi. 98. This great Painter [Rubens] found … in Charles … a congenial spirit.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. vi. 456. A prince whose tastes were in many respects congenial with his own.
b. of things.
1692. Dryden, Ess. on Satire. You look with pleasure on those things which are somewhat congenial, and of a remote kindred to your own conceptions.
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, xxi. III. 59. Poetry and music are congenial.
1823. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit. (1859), II. 399. The congenial histories of literature and of art are accompanied by the same periodical revolutions.
2. Suited or agreeable to one’s temperament or disposition; to one’s taste or liking. Const. to.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 254. To me more dear, congenial to my heart.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xlvii. II. 764. The controversies of the times were congenial to his temper and understanding.
1835. Thirlwall, Greece, I. viii. 334. The sea was an element never congenial to the spirit of Spartan warfare.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 339. The congenial task of following up his rival Syphax.
b. transf. Suited to the nature of anything.
[1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. 403. Nothing is … so natural, so con-genial to the liberal Arts, as that reigning Liberty and high Spirit of a People.]
1738. Med. Ess. & Observ. (ed. 2), IV. 397. These Things … relaxing the Solids by their kindly Heat (which some, fond of Words, would call congenial).
1813. Gent. Mag., LXXXIII. II. 296. When transplanted to the classic and congenial soil of Italy.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol. (1875), III. III. xxxv. 280. The food most congenial to this species … is abundantly distributed.
† 3. Belonging to any being from birth, or by nature; innate, natural, CONGENITAL. Obs.
1664. H. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 158. The Magnetical Effluviums are not Innate and Congenial to the Stone, but proceed ab extrinseco.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. i. § 17. Those more natural and congenial [Ideas] which it [the Soul] had in itself, underived from the body.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Evang., Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 102. Bless’d are all they, who … purge themselves from their congenial stain.
1775. Pott, Chirurg. Wks., II. 309. The congenial hernia. Ibid., Wks. (1783), II. 23. To distinguish the common rupture from the congenial in infants.
† b. Connected with one’s birth, natal, ‘native.’
1697. Dryden, Virgil, Life (1721), I. 65. Virgil suppos’d Souls to ascend again to their proper and congeneal Stars. Ibid., Georg., IV. 332. They mount the Sky, And to their own congenial Planets fly.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 213. In animals, the climate may be considered as congenial, and a kind of second nature.
† 4. Of the same kind or genus; congenerous.
1669. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Chym., 87. These Diseases being congenial in their causes, are the same in their Cures.
1751. Harris, Hermes (1841), 172. In natural species, which are congenial and of kin. Ibid. (1780), Philol. Inq. (1841), 40. All languages are in some degree congenial, and … founded upon the same principles.
1804. W. Mitford, Ess. Harmony Lang., 357. The Hebrew … and the congenial dialects of Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia.
