Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cynical |
CynicalAdjective1. Believing the worst of human nature and motives; having a sneering disbelief in e.g. selflessness of others. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cynical" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Synonyms: CynicalSynonyms: misanthropic (adj), misanthropical (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Asceticism | Adjective: ascetic, austere, puritanical; cynical; over-religious; acerbic. |
Contempt | Adjective: contemptuous; disdainful, scornful; withering, contumelious, supercilious, cynical, haughty, bumptious, cavalier; derisive. |
Detraction | Adjective: detracting;Verb: defamatory, detractory, derogatory, deprecatory; catty; disparaging, libelous; scurrile, scurrilous; abusive; foul-spoken, foul-tongued, foul-mouthed; slanderous; calumnious, calumniatory; sarcastic, sardonic; sarcastic, satirical, cynical. |
Disapprobation | Satirical, sarcastic, sardonic, cynical, dry, sharp, cutting, biting, severe, withering, trenchant, hard upon; censorious, critical, captious, carping, hypercritical; fastidious; sparing of praise, grudging praise. |
Incredulity | Adjective: incredulous, skeptical, unbelieving, inconvincible; hard of belief, shy of belief, disposed to doubt, indisposed to believe; suspicious, scrupulous, distrustful, cynical; |
Seclusion Exclusion | Unsociable; unsocial, dissocial; inhospitable, cynical, inconversable, unclubbable, sauvage, troglodytic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Cynical |
| English words defined with "cynical": cynically, Cynicalness, cynicism ♦ Marlowe ♦ Parkinson's law, Philip Marlowe ♦ with cynicism. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "cynical": Candide ♦ Matthew Bramble. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You're a cynical, exploitive, mean-hearted creep who wouldn't know real love if it bit him in the armpit. (Runaway Bride; writing credit: Josann McGibbon; Sara Parriott) Welcome to Cynical Island, population: you. (Will & Grace; writing credit: Evan Weinstein) | |
Lyrics | Perhaps I've grown a little cynical (Run-Around; performing artist: Blues Traveler) My friends are all so cynical refuse to keep the faith (Millennium; performing artist: Robbie Williams) Clinical, intellectual, cynical. (The Logical Song; performing artist: Supertramp) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Summersville, West Virginia. Cynical citizens watching FSA (Farm Security Administration) official recruiting laborers to bring in the crops in New York state. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He is equally cynical, but he is more sincere. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Ukraine | Ukrainians, cautious and cynical by nature, are skeptical of flashy advertisements, so "word of mouth" and establishing a "street reputation" for one's product or service are critical for success in this developing market. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Bob Woodward | So when you try to do something for years and there is denial, and then you get to a point with, oh, my goodness, look at mother load we've discovered. You have to get very cynical about the inspection process. |
Rush Limbaugh | The endorsement of that position by the majority of this court can only lead credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Cynical" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.61% of the time. "Cynical" is used about 763 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.61% | 760 | 9,022 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.39% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 763 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "cynical": ever-cynical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
cynical | 34 |
cynical quote | 23 |
color cynical | 7 |
cynical dog | 4 |
cynical define | 4 |
cynical definition | 3 |
cynical movie | 3 |
cynical love quote | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "cynical"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | sinies. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | cinik (cynic), përbuzës (contemptuous, disdainful, pejorative, scornful, Sniffy, snooty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متشائم (biliousness, black, cynic, dim, gloomy, pessimistic), ساخر (biting, bitter, cutting, cynic, derisive, derisory, epigram, giber, ironic, ironical, irradiant, lampooner, lampoonist, laughable, persiflage, quizzical, sarcastic, sardonic, saturnine, sneerer, snide, tongue in cheek, wry), عياب (captious, cynic, faultfinding). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | циничен (filthy, indecent, lubricous, naughty, scurrilous, smutty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 譏誚 , 玩事不恭. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | cynický (cynic, hard boiled, hard-nosed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | kynisk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | cynisch. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | cinika. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | kensluleysur (apathetic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | کلبی , غرغرو, عیبجو (Nag), بدگمان نسبت به درستی ونیکوکاری بشر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kyynillinen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | cynique (cynic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zynisch (cynic, cynically, jaundiced). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κυνικόσ (canine, cynic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | צי י (sardonic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | cinikus (cynic, sardonic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | sinis. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish | ciniciúil. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | cinico (cynic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | シップエア方式 (chiffon, chignon style, cine mode, cine sign, cinefilm, cinema, cinema complex, CinemaScope, Cinerama, cineraria, cinnamon, citron, city, city air terminal, city boy, city gal, city guide, city hall, city pops, civic, civic center, civic trust, civil minimum, civilian control, civilization, cynic, cynicism, move into low gear, scenario, scenario writer, senior, severe, shift, shift dress, shift in, shift key, shift out, shift-JIS, ship air system, Sinanthropus pekinensis, sine curve, sinusoide, Sydney, synagogue, synapse, synergy, synonym, synopsis). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | シニカル . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 견 학파. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | granganagh (cantankerous, captious, cattish, catty, churlish, crabbed, crabbed of person, crabby, cross, cross annoyed, disagreeable, fractious, fretful, grumpy, ill-humoured, ill-natured, ill-tempered, niggly person, peevish, snappy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | kynisk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ynicalcay cínico (cynic, sardonic). (various references) cinic (barefaced, brazen, brazenly, byronic, cynic, cynically, shameless, shamelessly, unblushingly), sarcastic (acrid, biting, caustic, caustically, lashing, mordacious, sarcastic, sarcastically, sardonic, satiric, severe, sharp, sneering, tart, taunting), batjocoritor (abuser, derisive, flouting, jeering, jeeringly, merry, mocker, mocking, sarcastic, sardonic, scoffer, scoffing, sneering). (various references) циничный (shameless). (various references) dogail. (various references) ciničan (misanthropic). (various references) cínico (cynic). (various references) cynisk (coarse, indecent). (various references) toplumsal değerleri küçümseyen, küçümseyen (condescending, deprecating, deprecatory, disdainful, disparaging, scornful, sneering, snide, snooty, underestimating), insani iyiliğe inanmayan, alaycı (barbed, derisive, facetious, ironic, ironical, mocker, mocking, mordacious, scoffer, shavian, snappish, sneering, wry). (various references) цинічний (cynic), безсоромний (barefaced, bestial, graceless, impudent, obscene, shameless, unabashed, unblushing). (various references) người yếm thế người hay chỉ trích cay độc (cynic), người hay nhạo báng (cynic, derider), người hay giễu cợt (chaffer, cynic, toyer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cynical": cynically. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "cynical": uncynical. (additional references) | |
Words containing "cynical": uncynically. (additional references) | |
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"Cynical" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cenical, Ciencias, cinical, cryonival, Cyaneka, cycnical, cynacle, cynarae, cynial, cynici, cynicial, cynicle, cyriac, Mcnicoll, Sinisalo, synical. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cynical" (pronounced si"nikul) |
| 6 | -i" n i k u l | preclinical, rabbinical. |
| 5 | -n i k u l | botanical, conical, ecumenical, electromechanical, ethnical, galenical, ironical, mechanical, nontechnical, puritanical, technical, tyrannical. |
| 4 | -i k u l | acoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, bicycle, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, categorical, cervical, chronological, classical, comical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cylindrical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, egotistical, electrical, electrochemical, elliptical, empirical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, evangelical, fanatical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, historical, hypercritical, hypocritical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, inimical, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, mathematical, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, methodological, metrical, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neoclassical, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, ontological, optical, ornithological, paradoxical, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, popsicle, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, radiological, rhetorical, sabbatical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, sociological, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, symmetrical, tactical, technological, teleological, testicle, theatrical, theological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, typographical, umbilical, uncritical, uneconomical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological. |
| 3 | -k u l | aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-i-l-n-y" | |
-1 letter: cyanic. | |
-2 letters: cynic, inlay, linac. | |
-3 letters: acyl, anil, ayin, cain, clan, clay, cyan, inly, lacy, laic, lain, liny, nail. | |
-4 letters: ail, ain, ani, any, can, cay, icy, lac, lay, lin, nay, nil, yin. | |
-5 letters: ai, al, an, ay, in, la, li, na, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-i-l-n-y" | |
+1 letter: calycine, chancily. | |
+2 letters: conically, cynically, uncynical. | |
+3 letters: accidently, accusingly, acetylenic, calcifying, carbonylic, chaplaincy, clinically, compliancy, encyclical, iconically, indelicacy, scenically. | |
+4 letters: acceptingly, accordingly, actinically, anticyclone, canonically, centrically, chronically, circinately, conceivably, conciliarly, cyclazocine, cyclization, cylindrical, encyclicals, laconically, noncyclical, syntactical, technically, uncynically, volcanicity, vulcanicity. | |
+5 letters: accidentally, anaphylactic, anarchically, anticyclones, anticyclonic, cationically, clairvoyance, communicably, concealingly, conchoidally, conciliatory, cybernetical, cyclazocines, cyclizations, cyclonically, cytochalasin, decalcifying, economically, ecumenically, encyclopedia, granulocytic, inaccessibly, inaccurately, inarticulacy, incalculably, lycanthropic, mechanically, narcotically, occasionally, occidentally, prostacyclin, radiolucency, synchronical, technicality, tectonically, tetracycline, uncritically, volcanically. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
