(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.
Scornful
Definition:
(a.) Full of scorn or contempt; contemptuous; disdainful.
(a.) Treated with scorn; exciting scorn.
Example Sentences:
(1) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bannon scorns media in rare public appearance at CPAC Some observers suggested the move to block some organisations from the Friday briefing was an attempt to distract the public from controversial stories.
(2) There they are, drinking again.’” Harper is a loner – a suburban boy who went trainspotting with his dad; whose asthma stopped him playing ice hockey That scorn appears to have interrupted the clever student’s journey to the top of the class.
(3) Tayyab Mahmood Jafri, part of the large team of prosecution lawyers, heaped scorn on yet another discovery of explosives.
(4) She won’t apologize for whatever makes the New York Times treat her with middle-school levels of petty scorn .
(5) Ranjana Kumari, one of India's best known women's rights activists and director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi, was scornful of Raghuvanshi's suggestion.
(6) And at the same time, speaking to black America, he branded Frazier an Uncle Tom, turning him into an object of derision and scorn.
(7) If the Westminster gang reneges on the pledges made in the campaign, they will discover that hell hath no fury like this nation scorned.” “We have never been an ordinary political party,” Salmond told his audience.
(8) Click here to view In The Other Woman, Cameron Diaz , Leslie Mann and Kate Upton team up to declare an all-out, scorched-earth War Of The Scorned Blondes against philandering husband Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
(9) And also leave aside the fact that the vast majority of so-called "national security professionals" have been disastrously wrong about virtually everything of significance over the last decade at least, including when most of them used their platforms and influence not only to persuade others to support the greatest crime of our generation - the aggressive attack on Iraq - but also to scorn war opponents as too Unserious to merit attention.
(10) Asking Alexander how genuine Hunt’s commitment to the NHS is, given his always having an NHS badge in his left lapel and regular praise of its staff, draws a scornful response: “I was quite struck by Dr Clare Gerada’s tweet about the junior doctors dispute, where she said: ‘Jeremy Hunt wears his NHS badge on his lapel, but junior doctors wear the NHS in their hearts.’ ” Plans to dissolve south London NHS trust anger neighbouring hospital Read more Hunt is one of the few senior figures in parliament who already knows what an effective opponent Alexander can be.
(11) Simpson, Semmelweis, Lister, and Ogston all found their ideas scorned by members of the profession, which may have feared being held responsible for deaths.
(12) When President Obama stands up and says - as he did when he addressed the nation in February 2011 about Libya - that "the United States will continue to stand up for freedom, stand up for justice, and stand up for the dignity of all people", it should trigger nothing but a scornful fit of laughter, not credulous support (by the way, not that anyone much cares any more, but here's what is happening after the Grand Success of the Libya Intervention: "Tribal and historical loyalties still run deep in Libya, which is struggling to maintain central government control in a country where armed militia wield real power and meaningful systems of law and justice are lacking after the crumbling of Gaddafi's eccentric personal rule").
(13) I called for a ban after San Bernardino, and was met with great scorn and anger but now, many are saying I was right to do so,” he boasted.
(14) I’m certain he, Ben Stiller and Alexander Payne were all justified in their scorn.
(15) Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin.” Techcrunch.com reported the tech community was “pouring scorn” on reports that Wright is Nakamoto.
(16) Sceptics pour scorn on what this third Scotland stands for, but its political agenda is clear.
(17) We are probably more of an oil company today than we were [when Lord Browne ran the company until 2007],” Morrell said, adding that Browne had received “a lot of scorn from our colleagues” for his acceptance of climate science.
(18) This is why my Twitter and Facebook feeds – which consist mostly of people who brew, sell or drink beer – are scornful when I announce I'm working a one-off shift in the Rose and Crown, in Stoke Newington, north London.
(19) American right-wingers were sceptical and scornful.
(20) However, this evidence may have appeared stronger to the City of London police, HMRC and the Crown Prosecution Service when they first brought the charges than it did during the case, coming after revelations of phone-hacking and News Corporation's closure of the News of the World, which allowed Redknapp to continually express scorn and retort that he "did not have to tell the truth" to "that newspaper".