cynicism

See also: Cynicism

English

Etymology

From Cynicism, cynic +‎ -ism; compare cynism.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪn.ɪˌsɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: Sinicism

Noun

cynicism (countable and uncountable, plural cynicisms)

1. (uncountable) A distrustful attitude.
2. (uncountable) An emotion of jaded negativity, or a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of other people. Cynicism can manifest itself by frustration, disillusionment and distrust in regard to organizations, authorities and other aspects of society, often due to previous bad experience. Cynics often view others as motivated solely by disguised self-interest.

   Coordinate term: skepticism

3. (countable) A scornfully pessimistic comment or act.
4. (uncountable) A school of thought in the philosophy of Ancient Greece.

Derived terms

• legal cynicism

Related terms

• cynic
• cynical
• cynically

Translations

skeptical, scornful or pessimistic attitude

Albanian: cinizëm (sq) m Armenian: ցինիզմ (hy) (cʻinizm) Belarusian: цыні́зм m (cynízm) Bulgarian: цини́зъм (bg) m (cinízǎm) Catalan: cinisme m Chinese: Mandarin: 犬儒主義／犬儒主义 (zh) (quǎnrúzhǔyì) Czech: cynismus (cs) m Danish: kynisme c Dutch: cynisme (nl) n Esperanto: cinikismo Estonian: künism Finnish: kyynisyys (fi) French: cynisme (fr) m Galician: cinismo (gl) m Georgian: ცინიზმი (cinizmi) German: Zynismus (de) m Greek: κυνισμός (el) m (kynismós) Hungarian: cinizmus (hu) Italian: cinismo (it) m Japanese: 皮肉 (ja) (ひにく, hiniku), キニク主義 (キニクしゅ​ぎ, kinikushugi), シニシズム (shinizumu), 冷笑 (ja) (れいしょう, reishō), 冷笑主義 (れいしょうしゅぎ, reishōshugi) Kazakh: шімірікпеу (şımırıkpeu) Korean: 냉소(冷笑) (ko) (naengso), 랭소(冷笑) (ko) (raengso) (North Korea), 냉소주의(冷笑主義) (naengsojuui), 랭소주의(冷笑主義) (raengsojuui) (North Korea) Latvian: cinisms m Lithuanian: cinizmas m Macedonian: цини́зам m (cinízam) Malay: sinisme, sinisisme Norwegian: Bokmål: kynisme m Polish: cynizm (pl) m Portuguese: cinismo (pt) m Romanian: cinism (ro) n Russian: цини́зм (ru) m (cinízm) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: цинѝзам m Roma: cinìzam (sh) m Sicilian: cinìsimu m Slovak: cynizmus m Slovene: cinizem m Spanish: cinismo (es) m Swedish: cynism (sv) c Turkish: sinizm (tr) Ukrainian: цині́зм (uk) m (cynízm)

See also

• cynicism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia