All 4 Uses of
cynical
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption— the evil assumption that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.
p. 232.5cynical = expecting the worst of people
- It's not becoming to a child. It's—cynical.
p. 244.9
- I ain't cynical, Miss Alexandra.
p. 244.9 *
- Tellin' the truth's not cynical, is it?
p. 244.9cynical = begin selfish and calculating
Definition:
someone who expects the worst -- especially of people (such as expecting them to be selfish and lie)