All 6 Uses of
cynical
in
The Idiot
- At home, he now adopted an attitude of absolute cynicism, but he could not keep this up before Nastasia Philipovna, although he had sworn to make her pay after marriage for all he suffered now.†
Chpt 1.9cynicism = believing that things usually go poorly and that selfish and insincere
- The melancholy appearance of some of her guests seemed to add to her sarcastic humour, and perhaps the very cynicism and cruelty of the game proposed by Ferdishenko pleased her.†
Chpt 1.13 *
- It is a crime on my part to imagine anything so base, with such cynical frankness.†
Chpt 2.5
- There is, in extreme cases, a final stage of cynical candour when a nervous man, excited, and beside himself with emotion, will be afraid of nothing and ready for any sort of scandal, nay, glad of it.†
Chpt 3.7
- Your insinuations as to rivalry are rather cynical, Hippolyte.†
Chpt 4.5
- Whether she were a woman who had read too many poems, as Evgenie Pavlovitch supposed, or whether she were mad, as the prince had assured Aglaya, at all events, this was a woman who, in spite of her occasionally cynical and audacious manner, was far more refined and trustful and sensitive than appeared.†
Chpt 4.8
Definition:
someone who expects the worst -- especially of people (such as expecting them to be selfish and lie)