(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
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.
Pragmatist
Definition:
(n.) One who is pragmatic.
Example Sentences:
(1) The prime minister, ever the pragmatist, sees a flawed alliance of states that aggregates its power to “fix stuff”.
(2) This led some to label him a moderate, though “pragmatist” might be more accurate.
(3) It's a belated recognition of this verdict that has spurred a new debate on the centre-right, with pragmatists from influential skills minister Matthew Hancock to key players at the Daily Telegraph moving beyond grudging acceptance of the existence of the minimum wage to making a more full-throated case for strengthening it.
(4) According to ETC, there are now several groupings, including the pragmatists, such as Branson, Lomborg and the American Enterprise Institute, which argue that geo-engineering is faster and cheaper than carbon taxes and emissions reductions, so just get on with it; and the theorists, such as the Royal Society and the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US which say we must have an emergency Plan B because we are heading for a certain climate catastrophe; meanwhile, businesses such as the Ocean Fertilisation Company and the Biochar Initiative see dollars.
(5) Apple CEO Tim Cook has, if nothing else, demonstrated an ability to be a pragmatist.
(6) Some would say the Sunderland manager – whose evolving side have one point from four games – was foolish to combat Arsenal with a 4-4-2 system featuring two orthodox wingers flanking a midfield anchored by the far from heavyweight David Vaughan and the debut-making Ki Sung-yueng but the Italian is not one of life's natural pragmatists.
(7) Avaaz is both global and globalised and its approach is less bleeding-heart liberal than hard-headed pragmatist.
(8) Dercon, who met Fayadh during a trip to Saudi Arabia two years ago, said he was a victim of the power struggles among reformists, pragmatists and ultraconservatives in the Gulf state.
(9) "He's an extreme pragmatist, less ideological even than David Cameron."
(10) She’s as good as anyone just because she hasn’t come from a private school with incredible wealth.” In policy terms, she is, like Blair, a pragmatist declaring that “what matters is what works”.
(11) The difference now is that pragmatists in Iran have a man to represent them, and he appears to enjoy political cover.
(12) The twists and shifts of a cynical, and increasingly unhappy, pragmatist briefly followed the same course as a principled idiosyncrat.
(13) You never know whether he would do any deals with Iran behind the scenes.” Nuclear weapons: how foreign hotspots could test Trump's finger on the trigger Read more Iran’s own pragmatists, notably the current president, Hassan Rouhani , however, don’t share that view, said Hadian.
(14) Is he an ideologue, a pragmatist or an opportunist?
(15) "[He] is an arch-pragmatist who makes terrible misjudgments, but he should not be demonised," says a western diplomat.
(16) Downplaying independence has enabled the SNP leader to present himself as a pragmatist, while retaining a claim to lead the only party committed only to Scotland .
(17) To be fair to the Brexiteers, the right in Britain has always consisted of an uneasy alliance between Tory pragmatists and change-hungry libertarians.
(18) Is there such a thing as Mayism, or is she simply a grey, autocratic pragmatist?
(19) He comes across as a courteous, efficient pragmatist, a director whose experience of everything from ads (he met his partner, Ceán Chaffin, while doing one for Coca-Cola) to music videos (including Madonna's Vogue ) to films has given him remarkable financial realism.
(20) O’Neill is keen to play the pragmatist, insisting third place and a play-off remains his primary objective, but he also had a feeling that a big result was in the offing in Athens.