(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.
Pessimist
Definition:
(n.) One who advocates the doctrine of pessimism; -- opposed to optimist.
(n.) One who looks on the dark side of things.
(a.) Alt. of Pessimistic
Example Sentences:
(1) A rather pessimistic wind is blowing over cancer chemotherapy, while a not very objective enthusiasm for second generation immunotherapy is raising its head.
(2) We challenge this pessimistic approach, and describe here our experience with seven patients with solid tumors, in whom pericardial effusion was diagnosed; one of them is described in detail.
(3) Verbally abused children were more angry and more pessimistic about their future.
(4) Has recently sounded pessimistic about the prospects for a full post-Copenhagen treaty: "You should not have too many expectations."
(5) Two groups, one institutionalized and the other noninstitutionalized but without formal activities, were described as being disengaged: e.g., withdrawn socially, self-absorbed, as well as powerless, pessimistic, and depressed.
(6) It is concluded that the heretofore pessimistic outlook regarding complete quadriplegia is unwarranted and that a more aggressive approach may result in a better functional outcome.
(7) "What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs – that a 'glass half full' dog is less likely to be anxious when left alone than one with a more 'pessimistic' nature."
(8) "It's like watching a bullfight," says one Conservative backbench pessimist.
(9) The agency hopes it can later extend the work to urban rivers outside London, but is pessimistic that parts of the Fleet might one day be released to public view.
(10) It is a totally unrealistic, pessimistic vision about what this country can achieve."
(11) Rehabilitation of patients with chronic respiratory disease has tended to be neglected in the past, partly because of a generally pessimistic view of their prospects.
(12) Another important factor is the lack of motivation shown by attending physicians to detect less obvious cases of alcohol dependence as they feel pessimistic about dealing with this condition.
(13) Predictions based on very early assessment are, therefore, often unduly pessimistic.
(14) If we’re being pessimistic about it, the whole idea of the euro has been weakened and maybe we’ll look back and see this as the beginning of the end of that ideal.” She reflected a pessimistic feeling among Germans, whether financial experts or ordinary folk on the street, that the whole of Europe had taken a battering over the negotiations, one from which it would take time to recover; and the strong belief that the very same politicians would once again find themselves in a huddle over the same issue a few months down the line.
(15) A substantial number of people who start small businesses have no qualifications beyond secondary school, he says, and, worse, may have no technical or business management training Peter Strong, of the Small Business Association , is less pessimistic.
(16) The estimated overall risk difference remained negative even when all patients in the sclerotherapy group with an unknown survival status were pessimistically considered dead at the end of the follow-up period.
(17) In the pessimistic case, UK income falls by 3.1%, or £50bn a year.” More business leaders lined up on Thursday to voice their concerns that the UK economy will be a significant casualty of a decision to leave the EU, including Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the advertising firm WPP.
(18) It is a measure of how pessimistic the MPC has become that even a one percentage point lowering in the assumed policy rate profile was deemed insufficient to offset the bad news on demand.
(19) The only thing maintaining the flow of migrants is that nobody reads the Daily Mail until they arrive, and only then do they realise how coarse and brutal our politics have become, how pessimistic.
(20) Women and more pessimistic parents were more distressed.