cynic

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points: 12
Words With Friends: 14
Letters: 5

Pronunciation

/ˈsɪnɪk/

Definition of cynic

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

A person whose outlook is scornfully negative.

“Well, that's one in the eye for the nay-sayers, the doubters, the cynics and assorted tosspots what make up the media and that.”
“"Accept your limitations," I'd warn her. "A lot of these kids are damaged beyond repair." And you know what her response was? That I was cynical. Which hit a nerve, I had to admit. I wasn't a cynic; I was a banged-up realist. You live to middle age, you begin to reckon with life's limits, you know? You lace up your sneakers and run it out.”
“The cynic surfaced, reminding him that she'd been accused of trying to spring the baby trap on Brad Comfort.”

See all 6 definitions

noun

A person whose outlook is scornfully negative.

“Well, that's one in the eye for the nay-sayers, the doubters, the cynics and assorted tosspots what make up the media and that.”
“"Accept your limitations," I'd warn her. "A lot of these kids are damaged beyond repair." And you know what her response was? That I was cynical. Which hit a nerve, I had to admit. I wasn't a cynic; I was a banged-up realist. You live to middle age, you begin to reckon with life's limits, you know? You lace up your sneakers and run it out.”
“The cynic surfaced, reminding him that she'd been accused of trying to spring the baby trap on Brad Comfort.”
A person who believes that all people are motivated by selfishness.
A member of 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.

adj

cynical (in all senses)
(not-comparable)Relating to the Dog Star.

“the cynic, or Sothic, year; cynic cycle”
(not-comparable)Of or relating to the Cynics.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English cynike, cynicke, from Middle French cynique, from Latin cynicus, from Ancient Greek κυνικός (kunikós), originally derived from the portico in Athens called Κυνόσαργες (Kunósarges), the earliest home of the Cynic school, later reinterpreted as being derived from κύων (kúōn, “dog”), in a contemptuous allusion to the uncouth and aggressive manners adopted by the members of the school.