<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.</li><li>Synonyms: misanthrope, pessimist, skeptic</li><li>(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.</li><li>a person who shows or expresses a bitterly or sneeringly cynical attitude.</li><li>Synonyms: misanthrope, pessimist, skeptic</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>cynical.</li><li>(initial capital letter) Also Cynical: of or relating to the Cynics or their doctrines.</li><li>Medicine/Medical: Now Rare: resembling the actions of a snarling dog.</li></ul>