Definitions for Cynic

• Definition
• Anagrams (24)

Cynic cyn·ic

Spelling: [sin-ik]

IPA: /ˈsɪn ɪk/

Cynic is a 5 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 12 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 14 points.

You can make 24 anagrams from letters in Cynic (cciny).

Definitions for Cynic

noun

1. a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.
2. (initial capital letter) one of a sect of Greek philosophers, 4th century b.c., who advocated the doctrines that virtue is the only good, that the essence of virtue is self-control, and that surrender to any external influence is beneath human dignity.
3. a person who shows or expresses a bitterly or sneeringly cynical attitude.

adjective

1. cynical.
2. (initial capital letter). Also, Cynical. of or relating to the Cynics or their doctrines.
3. Medicine/Medical Now Rare. resembling the actions of a snarling dog.

Origin of Cynic

1540-50; LatinCynicus Greek Kynikós Cynic, literally, doglike, currish, equivalent to kyn- (stem of kýōn) dog + -ikos -ic

Examples for Cynic

A cynic sends us a tip for the recruiting department of our army.

Putin, after all, is not the only cynic on center stage in the Ukraine crisis.

In 1783 he died the death of Diogenes, minus the wit of the cynic.

A cynic might say that the report is like the movie Clue, perfectly set up for a multiplicity of endings.

Distrustful of engaging fully, the cynic engages superficially, gets the drug he needs, and moves along.

It was composed of a few overturned omnibuses; for the true Parisian is a cynic.

One may be a cynic; nevertheless that sort of music soon upsets one's stomach.

Suppose he is a cynic, it is to his interest to govern well.

You, dear reader and refusenik, will likely be called a cynic or a sad sack by friends.

At her core as both a mother and a politician was a guiding emotion that would make a cynic scoff.