What's the difference between cynicism and idealism?

Cynicism


Definition:

  • (n.) The doctrine of the Cynics; the quality of being cynical; the mental state, opinions, or conduct, of a cynic; morose and contemptuous views and opinions.

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.

Idealism


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being ideal.
  • (n.) Conception of the ideal; imagery.
  • (n.) The system or theory that denies the existence of material bodies, and teaches that we have no rational grounds to believe in the reality of anything but ideas and their relations.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Acceptance of less than ideal donors is ill-advised even though rejection of such donors conflicts with the current shortage of organs.
  • (2) In platform shoes to emulate Johnson's height, and with the aid of prosthetic earlobes, Cranston becomes the 36th president: he bullies and cajoles, flatters and snarls and barks, tells dirty jokes or glows with idealism as required, and delivers the famous "Johnson treatment" to everyone from Martin Luther King to the racist Alabama governor George Wallace.
  • (3) Propofol is ideal for short periods of care on the ICU, and during weaning when longer acting agents are being eliminated.
  • (4) As bacterial vaginosis is generally looked upon as a mild noninflammatory condition lactate-gel seems to be an ideal treatment for this disease.
  • (5) Using four 4 cm electrodes at intervals of 1.5 cm in VX-2 carcinoma in the rabbit, ideal heating was obtained: 42 degrees C at the periphery of the tumor and 43 degrees C at the center.
  • (6) The regimen used at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, provides 2.0 to 2.5 gm protein per kilogram ideal body weight, plus adequate fluid and nutrient supplements.
  • (7) The ideal prophylaxis should compensate for the undesired effects of an operation or injury on the coagulation system, without subjecting the patient to the danger of elevated tendency to bleed.
  • (8) "The new feminine ideal is of egg-smooth perfection from hairline to toes," she writes, describing the exquisite agony of having her fingers, arms, back, buttocks and nostrils waxed.
  • (9) From a practical viewpoint, this approach to prevention is less than ideal because it results in considerable costs as health care providers monitor for possible hepatotoxic effects and because it is difficult to maintain compliance for 12 months.
  • (10) Ideally, the rule should classify all nonhyperplastic and mildly hyperplastic cases as nonprogressive and all carcinomas as progressive; there were, however, a considerable number of false positives and false negatives based on application of the classification rule to these cases.
  • (11) Whether we would use that to support and amplify the community ideals already present or go the way of gentrification remained to be seen.
  • (12) Gallium arsenide has proved to be an ideal substrate material for some uses but is associated with unique health hazards.
  • (13) The ideal body weight (kg) of each individual can be calculated by the following formula: ideal body mass index x the height (m)2, since body mass index is expressed by the body weight in kilogram divided by the height squared in meters.
  • (14) It's almost starting to feel like we're back in the good old days of July 2005, when Paris lost out to London in the battle to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, a defeat immediately interpreted by France as a bitter blow to Gallic ideals of fair play and non-commercialism and yet another undeserved triumph for the underhand, free-market manoeuvrings of perfidious Albion.
  • (15) Therefore, it is an ideal method for the isolation of cell cycle phase specific populations.
  • (16) Without suggesting an ideal medication for this syndrome, the authors have obtained good results with barbexaclone.
  • (17) Actions achieved or a long commitment to an ideal, often through hardship.
  • (18) The integrated sensing system is an ideal instrumental set up for viewing and recording the behaviour of rodents as well as other animals in the experimental pen throughout the year under varying weather and light conditions.
  • (19) This experiment investigated people's preferences for the location of facilities in an ideal town.
  • (20) Need Score for each content area was calculated by taking the difference between Ideal and Current Expertise responses.