What's the difference between caustic and cynical?

Caustic


Definition:

  • (a.) Alt. of Caustical
  • (a.) Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
  • (a.) A caustic curve or caustic surface.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) According to the report filed by the New York state department of financial services (NYSDFS), when warned by a US colleague about dealings with Iran, a Standard Chartered executive caustically replied: "You f---ing Americans.
  • (2) He had severe standards and was caustic about people in public life and the way things were run.
  • (3) Fatale haemoptysis occurred as a result of circumferential caustic erosion to the right intermediate bronchus caused by a tablet of ferrous sulphate which remained in contact for 4 days.
  • (4) Four cases of combined hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal stricture secondary to caustic ingestion are presented.
  • (5) Initial endoscopic examination showed moderate caustic esophagitis in all patients, and esophageal atony and poor distension were early roentgenographic observations.
  • (6) The stigma of having no brothers or sisters meant that any acting up was immediately dismissed with a caustic, “Well, he is an only child.” The subtext was that my parents had doted on me excessively, inflating my sense of importance.
  • (7) The caustic property of silver nitrate prompted a double-blind, controlled study of a possible causal relationship between use of the agent for prophylaxis against ophthalmic infection in the newborn and the subsequent development of nasolacrimal duct obstruction.
  • (8) The effects of accidental ingestion of a caustic detergent are studied in the report of 14 patients seen in the Hennepin County Medical Center.
  • (9) The success of conservative treatment has been higher in patients younger than 8 years of age, and in strictures due to caustics other than lye involving upper third portion and less than five cm of an esophageal segment.
  • (10) Despite the sometimes self-deprecating shtick – in sharp contrast to Putin's self-mythologising antics – there remains disquiet about what Navalny really represents, behind the caustic put-downs and cool persona.
  • (11) Caustic ingestion in adults must be viewed as a problem different from that of accidental ingestion in children.
  • (12) Exposure to caustic agents is a common problem, affecting thousands of individuals annually.
  • (13) This result counters the theory that a caustic response is a prerequisite for successful therapy.
  • (14) With both kinds of caustic agents the decrease of acid phosphatase activity was more striking than that of the alkaline phosphatase.
  • (15) Even so, Iain Macleod and Enoch Powell refused invitations to join the new government and Macleod published in the Spectator a caustic account of all the skullduggery.
  • (16) L'eau de Javel (bleaching agent with sodium hypochloride) was the most frequently encountered caustic substance (89%).
  • (17) The indication for esophageal replacement was atresia in 92 children and intractable stricture (peptic, caustic, or congenital) in 20.
  • (18) In order to examine the injuries and functional abnormalities of these sites following caustic ingestion, the records of The Johns Hopkins Swallowing Center were reviewed.
  • (19) Afterwards, in a sign that she has not yet lost her caustic side, Sobchak wrote in her Tatler column: "Bozhena equally suffers for the fate of her motherland as for the fate of her fur coats."
  • (20) Roy Keane’s most outspoken attack on Sir Alex Ferguson branched out into caustic criticisms of José Mourinho as he branded the Chelsea’s manager conduct “disgraceful” and explained why he refused to shake his hand towards the end of Aston Villa’s recent match at Stamford Bridge .

Cynical


Definition:

  • (a.) Having the qualities of a surly dog; snarling; captious; currish.
  • (a.) Pertaining to the Dog Star; as, the cynic, or Sothic, year; cynic cycle.
  • (a.) Belonging to the sect of philosophers called cynics; having the qualities of a cynic; pertaining to, or resembling, the doctrines of the cynics.
  • (a.) Given to sneering at rectitude and the conduct of life by moral principles; disbelieving in the reality of any human purposes which are not suggested or directed by self-interest or self-indulgence; as, a cynical man who scoffs at pretensions of integrity; characterized by such opinions; as, cynical views of human nature.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Still, cynics might say they can identify at least one reason it all might fail: namely form.
  • (2) But he won’t call.” Allardyce is also cynical about an offer from Swansea to compensate around 300 Sunderland fans who had booked trips to Wales before the date change.
  • (3) And it was here, several years later, that I came looking for an answer to a question which has baffled many cynical film critics: how did a low-key prison drama, which was considered a box-office flop on its initial release, become one of the most popular movies of all time?
  • (4) I have not met someone as cynical as Museveni,” Besigye told a rally in eastern Uganda in January.
  • (5) The aim of this study was to determine how individual differences in cynical hostility and defensiveness interacted with situational demands to affect cardiovascular responses in a natural setting.
  • (6) It goes on: "In a reality of ongoing occupation, of solid cynicism and meanness, each and every one of us bears the moral obligation to try to relieve the suffering, do something to bend back the occupation's giant, cruel hand."
  • (7) The present study extended this previous research by evaluating urinary cortisol excretion during routine daily activities in a sample of high and low cynically hostile young men.
  • (8) If Deng is a 21st-century Becky Sharp, we should recall that for all her cynicism, Thackeray's heroine also possessed an indomitable spirit.
  • (9) Oil companies are sponsoring the arts around the world on an “epidemic” scale as a cynical PR strategy to improve their reputation, a new book argues.
  • (10) The British ambassador to Ukraine , Simon Smith, called Yanukovych's decision "an egregious piece of cynicism".
  • (11) Cynics will tell you Camra’s membership know all about identity crises – once the rebels of the 1970s, they’re now mostly older dads and grandads – purists upholding Camra’s “cask only” creed as sacred.
  • (12) The swift action of the US in withdrawing funding is likely to increase cynicism among Palestinians about the credibility of the US as a mediator between them and the Israelis.
  • (13) Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat campaign manager, accused Cameron of using the Greens to duck TV debates, adding: “Not since the photos of Cameron driving huskies have green issues been so cynically harnessed to Tory interest.” The broadcasters have proposed three one-hour TV debates, the first involving the Ukip, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative leaders, the second Lib Dem, Labour and Tory.
  • (14) Police officers resigned and politicians were embarrassed as the scandal erupted, but Scotland Yard – with dazzling cynicism – has reacted by trying to silence the kind of police whistleblowers who helped to expose the failures of their leaders; and ambitious politicians continue to dine with Rupert Murdoch.
  • (15) I'm always initially very cynical: who are these people, they look ridiculous.'
  • (16) To somehow use the upcoming 2012 Olympics as a reason to do this is, in my opinion, unforgivably cynical.
  • (17) Serving on the government's Renewables Advisory Board from 2003 to 2006, I witnessed what cynics could easily have mistaken for a deliberate campaign of delay, obfuscation, and the parking, if not torpedoing, of good ideas coming from industry members of the board."
  • (18) Swansea, for whom Jefferson Montero was outstanding, levelled when Gylfi Sigurdsson curled a sublime 25-yard free-kick into the top corner, after Kieran Gibbs had cynically brought down Modou Barrow, the Swansea substitute.
  • (19) Cynics would say it has taken the scientific community a long time to achieve very little progress in our understanding of HIV-mediated CNS damage.
  • (20) The aid cynics attacking the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on development assistance should take note.