as in misanthrope
a person who distrusts other people and believes that everything is done for selfish reasons
a cynic who believes that nobody does a good deed without expecting something in return
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cynic
Gunn and Safran and all of Warner Bros can rest easy after the cynics’ snarking over the first trailer back in December.
—
Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 10 July 2025
The evergreen revolving door of oddballs and cynics populating that Manhattan arraignment court in the wee hours of the night and at the center of it all a workplace family that will forever be... until next time.
—EW.com, 19 June 2025
Instead, cynics might argue, the exercise was about proving to the White House that Putin was not interested in the peace, or indeed the specific ceasefire proposal, that the Trump administration sought.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 12 May 2025
But, to the cynics, it could be twisted as a sign that Åberg isn’t wired like the great competitors in sports.
—Brody Miller, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cynic
Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 10 July 2025
The evergreen revolving door of oddballs and cynics populating that Manhattan arraignment court in the wee hours of the night and at the center of it all a workplace family that will forever be... until next time.
—EW.com, 19 June 2025
Instead, cynics might argue, the exercise was about proving to the White House that Putin was not interested in the peace, or indeed the specific ceasefire proposal, that the Trump administration sought.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 12 May 2025
But, to the cynics, it could be twisted as a sign that Åberg isn’t wired like the great competitors in sports.
—Brody Miller, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cynic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cynic
Noun
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The moment in the special is about transformation: how even an icy misanthrope can thaw with a bit of generosity and effort.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
24 July 2025
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In the face of international law enforcement pressure, dozens of prosecutions, and worldwide disrepute, the network of young sadists, misanthropes, child predators, and extortionists known as Com and 764 has not shrunk away into obscurity.—
Ali Winston,
WIRED,
12 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Seattle did very little to silence those critics in Week 1.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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Before presenting Video of the Year at the 2018 awards, Madonna paid tribute to Aretha Franklin, in a moment critics called totally tone deaf.—
Kate Hogan,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Optimists showed greater differences in neural patterns when thinking of positive events versus negative events, compared to pessimists.—
Margherita Bassi,
Smithsonian Magazine,
24 July 2025
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The researchers also found that optimistic people showed bigger differences between brain patterns for emotionally positive and negative events than pessimists did.—
Allison Parshall,
Scientific American,
21 July 2025
Noun
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As funny as the skit was, there were some naysayers in the mix.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
4 Sep. 2025
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Shortly after the last of the dams was removed, freeing the Klamath's free flow in late 2024, the salmon that naysayers said would take years to journey past the old reservoirs appeared upstream almost overnight.—
Debra Utacia Krol,
USA Today,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Among the seven people Kennedy appointed as replacements are several like-minded vaccine skeptics and two persons with limited if any vaccine expertise.—
Joshua P. Cohen,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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Ladapo, the DeSantis administration’s most frequent vocal skeptic of vaccines, wears numerous hats in Florida.—
Kirby Wilson,
Miami Herald,
3 Sep. 2025
Video
The History of 'Cynic'
How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.
Cite this Entry
“Cynic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cynic. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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