cynical

/ˈsɪnɪkəl/

cynical adjective: of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.

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Adjective (1)

cynical (comparative more cynical, superlative most cynical)

Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
- I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received.1755, Samuel Johnson, To the Earl of Chesterfield
Skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others.
Bitterly or jadedly distrustful or contemptuous; mocking.
- He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark-for instance, he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC
- On any given day, those who get their news from the loudest voices on the right—Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart News—are bombarded with partisan propaganda, conspiracy theories, and cynical rage-bait.2020 January 31, McKay Coppins, “The Conservatives Trying to Ditch Fake News”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2020
Showing contempt for accepted moral standards by one's actions.
- When he, at Neergard's cynical suggestion, had consented to exploit his own club[…]and had consented to resign from it to do so, he had every reason to believe that Neergard meant to either mulct them heavily or buy them out. In either case, having been useful to Neergard, his profits from the...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter X, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
(rare) Like the actions of a snarling dog, especially in reference to facial nerve paralysis.
- Towards noon, he experienced convulsive movements; the extremities became stiff, the pulse extremely small, and he died during an attack of cynical spasm.1818, Matthieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila, A Treatise on Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Poisons, Considered as to their Relations with Physiology, Pathology, and Medical Jurisprudence
- On the contrary, in woman, the cynical spasm, though felt with as much, or even more violence than the other sex, is not followed with the same deleterious effects, and may be repeated much oftener without any unfavorable consequences.1857, New Orleans Medical News and Hospital Gazette - Volume 3, page 278

Adjective (2) capitalized: Cynical

Cynical (not comparable)

Of or relating to the Cynics, a sect of Ancient Greek philosophers who believed virtue to be the only good and self-control to be the only means of achieving virtue.

cynical meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Arabic

cynical in Tamil

நாய்க்குணம் படைத்த, எரிந்து விழுகிற, குற்றம் நாடுகிற

cynical in Malayalam

doubtful, sceptical, distrustful: ദോഷദർശനസ്വഭാവമുള്ള, ദോഷാനുദർശകനായ, അജ്ഞേയവാദിയായ, സംശയാത്മാവായ, സന്ദേഹശീലനായ, വ്യാമൂഢ

cynical in Arabic

of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated by base desires or selfishness: سَاخِر sāḵir

More languagesFewer languages

cynical in Malay: sinis

Examples of cynical in a sentence

At the time I was a wide-eyed freshman, but I was soon to grow jaded and cynical.
The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.
Many people have developed a cynical distrust of politicians.

All 39 example sentences with cynical

Forms of cynical

comparative	more cynical
superlative	most cynical

Origin of cynical

Originated 1542, from Classical Latin cynicus (“Cynic/cynic”, adjective) + -al. By surface analysis, cynic + -al. In reference to dogs, with allusion to the ultimate etymology (Ancient Greek κυνικός (kunikós, “doglike”)).

From Cynic + -al.

Words formed from cynical

Words that rhyme with cynical

Questions about cynical

What does cynical mean?: Cynical means of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
What is cynical in Tamil?: Cynical in Tamil is நாய்க்குணம் படைத்த, எரிந்து விழுகிற, குற்றம் நாடுகிற. See Cynical meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is cynical?: Cynical is an adjective.
How do you pronounce cynical?: Cynical is pronounced /ˈsɪnɪkəl/.

Words near cynical in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: cynical (page history and authors); Cynical (page history and authors); cynical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cynical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cynical (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-cynical.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cynical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cynical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.