cynical meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

cynical

adjalso spelled Cynical

/ˈsɪnɪkəl/

Etymology Originated 1542, from Classical Latin cynicus (“Cynic/cynic”, adjective) + -al. By surface analysis, cynic + -al. In reference to dogs, with allusion to the ultimate etymology (Ancient Greek κυνικός (kunikós, “doglike”)).

Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.

I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received.1755, Samuel Johnson, To the Earl of Chesterfield:

Skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others.

Bitterly or jadedly distrustful or contemptuous; mocking.

He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark-for instance, he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
On any given day, those who get their news from the loudest voices on the right—Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart News—are bombarded with partisan propaganda, conspiracy theories, and cynical rage-bait.2020 January 31, McKay Coppins, “The Conservatives Trying to Ditch Fake News”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2020:

Showing contempt for accepted moral standards by one's actions.

When he, at Neergard's cynical suggestion, had consented to exploit his own club[…]and had consented to resign from it to do so, he had every reason to believe that Neergard meant to either mulct them heavily or buy them out. In either case, having been useful to Neergard, his profits from the transaction would have been considerable.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter X, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Medicine, Sciences Rare Like the actions of a snarling dog, especially in reference to facial nerve paralysis.

Towards noon, he experienced convulsive movements; the extremities became stiff, the pulse extremely small, and he died during an attack of cynical spasm.1818, Matthieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila, A Treatise on Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Poisons, Considered as to their Relations with Physiology, Pathology, and Medical Jurisprudence:
On the contrary, in woman, the cynical spasm, though felt with as much, or even more violence than the other sex, is not followed with the same deleterious effects, and may be repeated much oftener without any unfavorable consequences.1857, New Orleans Medical News and Hospital Gazette - Volume 3, page 278:

2 more examples

Demetrius Attalicus studied the symptomatologies due to strictura cerebri, characterized by a cynical spasm of the facial nerve.1986, Giuseppe Roccatagliata, A History of Ancient Psychiatry, page 125:
Something of the same sort happened at Hensberg, Germany, where the nuns were afflicted and committed the sin they called “the silent sin.” In their ecstasies, their convulsions were very violent and interspersed with “cynical movements of the pelvis.”2009, Hilary Evans, Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak!: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior, →ISBN:

Derived terms: cynicality, cynically, cynicalness, cynicism, noncynical, semicynical, supercynical, uncynical

Cynical

adj

Etymology From Cynic + -al.

Of or relating to the Cynics, a sect of Ancient Greek philosophers who believed virtue to be the only good and self-control to be the only means of achieving virtue.