What's the difference between cynical and despondent?

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.

Despondent


Definition:

  • (a.) Marked by despondence; given to despondence; low-spirited; as, a despondent manner; a despondent prisoner.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) After she hit the two-year mark, five-month mark, she’s been despondent.
  • (2) It was hard to reconcile Pistorius's despondent figure in black suit and tie and white shirt with the "blade runner" who thrilled stadiums around the world and became the first amputee to run in the Olympics .
  • (3) But actually what we felt as the days and weeks passed – me and Kelly and my father – was a sense of despondency, of being let down, of just sinking through the system.
  • (4) In 46%, the subject had expressed despondency over illness.
  • (5) There is a sense of despondency spreading in Pakistan.
  • (6) The value of Brazil's currency, the real, has ballooned since President Lula took power, leaving exporters despondent and leading Goldman Sachs to classify it as the most overvalued currency on earth.
  • (7) , became a battle manual for despondent Democrats after George W Bush’s second election victory.
  • (8) He told worshippers at Durham cathedral: "It is very easy to be despondent about the church.
  • (9) Pablo Simón, a political science professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University, argues that a fresh election and the attendant politicking could further alienate an already despondent electorate.
  • (10) In Spike Jonze 's Her, set in a near future LA, Phoenix is Theodore, a despondent, solitary writer whose life picks up when he falls in love with Samantha, a portable, artificially intelligent operating system who provides more than he could have hoped for.
  • (11) [It is] all the Ds: despair, depression, despondency.” “Chinese media are under a lot of pressure right now.
  • (12) Jose Mourinho: Rafa Benitez destroyed my work at Inter within six months Read more There wasn’t too much to get excited or despondent about in any of the displays in New York, Charlotte or here in Washington DC.
  • (13) Rob came very close to death many times, and I think part of James's despondency now comes from having saved Rob so many times, only to lose him in the end.
  • (14) They have been left despondent by Francis's occasional comments on the issue, in which he has generally defended the church while condemning the abuse.
  • (15) Despondent MPs tonight voiced fears that Britain may experience a milder ­version of the "clean hands" affair that brought down Italy's postwar political settlement in the 1990s.
  • (16) Strong was despondent over Bilibid but recovered and developed a noteworthy career in American tropical medicine.
  • (17) It has been demonstrated that a small proportion of women taking oral contraceptives develop a depressive syndrome characterized by despondency, tension, and changes in sex desire.
  • (18) A classic portrait of the grieving widower, his despondency did not surprise mental health professionals.
  • (19) For those who don't get the results they hoped for – and their chosen universities – the moments after the envelope are full of dread and despondency.
  • (20) It is easy to see why players bounce off Klopp and indeed it was tempting to wonder if Chelsea’s despondent players were casting the occasional envious glance at the German, whose energetic and engrossing touchline demeanour offered a welcome shade of light next to José Mourinho ’s dark scowl.