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I believe that a certain politician is motivated by his/her own selfish interests, he/she having dispensed with social norms of morality.

So am I cynical, or is the politician I referred to cynical? I find the first two senses, as defined at https://english.stackexchange.com/a/12459/251434, conflicting, and therefore, confusing.

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  • Welcome to ELU. Have you consulted a dictionary?
    – Aleksandr Hovhannisyan
    Commented Apr 6, 2019 at 20:56
  • See my latest edit. I forgot to include the link. Sorry for the confusion.
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 6, 2019 at 21:06
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    It depends on where you are standing.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Apr 6, 2019 at 21:19
  • (Consider that you might both be cynics.)
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Apr 6, 2019 at 21:27
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    Please clarify what you mean, Hot Licks. I am not clear on how your comment applies. Thanks.
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 6, 2019 at 21:44

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The definition you linked to includes two definitions of cynical, apparently from Collins English Dictionary

And it is true that people are often described as cynical when they are "showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions," as in the case of the politician you described.

However, usually, when one is referred to as a cynic (noun) in contemporary English, it means that they qualify for this definition, per the OED:

A person disposed to rail or find fault; now usually: One who shows a disposition to disbelieve in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions, and is wont to express this by sneers and sarcasms; a sneering fault-finder.

Based on usage, one might refer to someone like the politician you described with the adjective "cynical," but would be less likely to call them the noun "cynic." When the noun "cynic" is invoked, it usually applies to someone like yourself in this situation, who "disbelieve[s] in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions," as opposed to someone who "shows contempt for... standards of... morality."

If you want to give yourself some credit for holding these views about a particular politician and not people in general, you might not refer to yourself as a cynic but rather a skeptic.

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  • If person A commits homicide against person B, I think it's pretty clear that we would say that A had been homicidal. I am not aware that anyone would normally call person B homicidal.
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 7, 2019 at 21:15
  • Your analysis is interesting, but I think extraordinarily, complex to explain a simple English construction. Also note that both senses of the definition given in the post I referenced are for "cynical," not "cynic."
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 7, 2019 at 21:42
  • @ManyTongues Yes, I was focusing on the different usages of "cynic" and "cynical" based on the original title of the post ("who is a cynic"). The word "cynical" has undergone recent shifts in usage that I don't think apply as broadly to "cynic." I'm not sure what you're saying regarding homicide / homicidal, I don't think that's an analogous comparison.
    – RaceYouAnytime
    Commented Apr 8, 2019 at 10:02
  • I was referring to the word constructions, namely the root word, "homicide," and the derivative adjectival form, "homicidal." Normally, when English derives an adjective from a noun, the words have related meanings, not conflicting meanings. I thought that was clear,sorry. I wasn't comparing the meanings of the two root words "homicide" and "cynic" or their adjectival derivatives, only their constructions.
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 10, 2019 at 1:46
  • I do agree that it does really appear that the word "cynical" has gone through a shift in meaning, possibly recently. I don't recall, for instance, while growing up, that people used it in this new sense, which (to me, at least) confuses AND conflates meaning. It always meant the first sense, having the belief of a cynic. Thank you for this exchange.
    – Many Tongues
    Commented Apr 10, 2019 at 1:56

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