cynic
Speech parts
1. cynic - Noun
2. cynic - Adjective
Meaning
Alt. of Cynical
One of a sect or school of philosophers founded by Antisthenes, and of whom Diogenes was a disciple. The first Cynics were noted for austere lives and their scorn for social customs and current philosophical opinions. Hence the term Cynic symbolized, in the popular judgment, moroseness, and contempt for the views of others.
One who holds views resembling those of the Cynics; a snarler; a misanthrope; particularly, a person who believes that human conduct is directed, either consciously or unconsciously, wholly by self-interest or self-indulgence, and that appearances to the contrary are superficial and untrustworthy.
Source: Webster's dictionarySynonyms
Antonyms
Show all antonymsHypernyms
Hyponyms
Related terms
Phrases with the word
Anagrams
Examples
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
Woman: the peg on which the wit hangs his jest, the preacher his text, the cynic his grouch and the sinner his justification.
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.
There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.
The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.