Cynical / duːhɪki / adj. 

Definition: Cynical is an adjective that generally refers to believing that self-interest, base desires, or selfishness are the pure primary motivations behind most people’s actions. Additionally, if individuals are usually concerned with their interests making them typically disregard accepted standards to accomplish them, their character is cynical. A cynical person also portrays negative opinions about other people.

Etymology: The word cynical derives from cynic, an ancient Greek derivation from κυνικός (kynikos), which refers to ‘dog-like’ and κύων (kyôn) referring to ‘dog.’ According to the old times’ explanation, people called the cynics dogs primarily because the first cynic (Antisthenes) taught at Athens in the Cynosarges gymnasium. Today, people use cynical to refer to someone with negative opinions about other people and the things they do.

In a Sentence

The business owner you saw in the news was brutally hardened and cynical to each sad story he came across under the sun.

Why do most politicians tend to portray a cynical manipulation of their country’s public opinion in most developing countries?

At the end of the meeting, we realized that they had cynical moral attitudes, which inclined them to consider self-interest the top decisive factor.

Synonyms 

Distrustful, Negativist

Antonyms 

Optimistic, Believing