What's the difference between cynical and mocking?

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.

Mocking


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Mock
  • (a.) Imitating, esp. in derision, or so as to cause derision; mimicking; derisive.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) So is the mock courtroom promising “justice and fairness”.
  • (2) Infants were habituated to models posing either prototypically positive displays (e.g., happy expressions) or positive expression blends (e.g., mock surprise).
  • (3) It’s going to affect everybody.” The six songs from Rebel Heart released thus far do not shy away from controversy: one, Illuminati, mocks the various conspiracy theories on the internet that implicate a variety of entertainers – including Jay-Z and Lady Gaga – in membership of a shadowy ruling elite.
  • (4) The method correlated well with a radio-enzymatic assay for mock unknown sera (r = 0.981).
  • (5) Uptake of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-E-5-(2-bromovinyl)uracil (BV-araU) into herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)- and 2 (HSV-2)-infected cells was elevated about 190 to 40 times, compared with that into mock-infected human embryo lung fibroblast cells.
  • (6) Arsenal had the game in their pocket and the Welshman was having such a nightmare - he missed the target with a far-post volley in the second half - that the Arsenal fans were mocking him with chants of 'Give it to Giggsy'.
  • (7) A series of experiments performed with the two immuneprecipitation techniques, reducing or nonreducing electrophoretic conditions, and addition of preformed mock BA-1 immuneprecipitate to BA-1-Sepharose immuneprecipitates convincingly demonstrated that the previously described 55 and 65 kilodalton components were artifacts caused by co-migration of CD24 with IgG and IgM heavy chains, respectively.
  • (8) His stencils, skewed perspective and wit are recognizable enough to be mocked in the New Yorker .
  • (9) It may have been like punk never ‘appened, but you caught a whiff of the movement’s scorched earth puritanism in the mocking disdain with which Smash Hits addressed rock-star hedonism.
  • (10) Social media has seized on the story, turning the Eastern Washington University’s professor of African studies into a figure vilified and mocked for cultural appropriation in the midst of fraught debates over transgender identity and police shootings of black people.
  • (11) Another was a mock-up of a speeding ticket for Mr G Bale, Campeón de Copa, for overtaking recklessly, crossing a continuous white line.
  • (12) This is a chancellor who has produced a budget for hedge fund managers more than for small businesses.” Corbyn made a point of mocking some of the chancellor’s grand rhetoric of recent years.
  • (13) During Nicolas Sarkozy's unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign she was mocked for not knowing the price of an underground train ticket (she said €4 instead of €1.70).
  • (14) But he mocked Mitchell when he told the BBC Sunday Politics: "He's never used it in my presence, but then again I'm very proud myself to be a pleb."
  • (15) We evaluated the stroke work developed by these SMVs at afterloads of 30 mm Hg and 80 mm Hg in vivo, using a mock circulation device.
  • (16) But it accused South Park of having mocked the prophet, and cited Islamic scholars who ruled that "whoever curses the messenger of Allah must be killed".
  • (17) The Iraqi government needs to “mock and disprove” Islamic State’s online propaganda more effectively and more quickly Malcolm Turnbull has told an elite audience in Washington, saying he will raise the problem when he meets US president Barack Obama.
  • (18) But that aside, I have to disagree with what, I think, is Mr Hitchens' point about fashion: that in order to prevent disasters such as 70s style returning, we should always dress with one eye on how future generations will mock us.
  • (19) On STFU, Parents , a blog that "mocks examples of parental overshare", photographs of a child's vomit ("This is what I had to clear up today!")
  • (20) Their story involves a fraudster who posed as their builder, set up a copycat email address and even managed to mock up an incredibly realistic fake invoice.