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Webster 1828 Edition

, CYNICAL,

Adj.

[Gr., canine, a dog.] Having the qualities of a surly dog; snarling; captious; surly; currish; austere.

Cynic spasm, a kind of convulsion, in which the patient imitates the howling of dogs.

See also: cynical

Cynical ‎(not comparable)

Of or relating to the Cynics, 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.
Concerned only with one's own interests and disregarding accepted standards to achieve them: A cynical fool

“Cynical” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
"cynical" Concise Oxford Dictionary Tenth Edition

See also: Cynical

cynical ‎(comparative more cynical, superlative most cynical)

Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
  I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received.
Skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others.
Bitterly or jadedly distrustful or contemptuous; mocking.
- 1945 May, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
  
  He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark-for instance, he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.
Showing contempt for accepted moral standards by one's actions.
- 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter X”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
  
  When he, at Neergard's cynical suggestion, had consented to exploit his own club […] and had consented to resign from it to do so, he had every reason to believe that Neergard meant to either mulct them heavily or buy them out. In either case, having been useful to Neergard, his profits from the transaction would have been considerable.
(medicine, rare) Like the actions of a snarling dog.
a cynic spasm‎

of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated by base desires or selfishness

“cynical” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
“cynical” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
"cynical" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.