cynicism

cynical | American Dictionary

cynical
adjective
us/ˈsɪn·ɪ·kəl/
not trusting or respecting the goodness of other people and their actions, but believing that people are interested only in themselves:
Listening to politicians for too long can make you cynical.
She’s become cynical about men.

cynicism

noun[ U ]us/ˈsɪn·əˌsɪz·əm/
He’s often been accused of cynicism, but he says he’s just realistic.

Examples of cynical

cynical
Many became cynical, bluffed their way through, concentrated on family interests, or used their offices for financial gain.
It was cynical, yet certain of its target, deadly in its accuracy.
Therefore, voters became more cynical as the negative information on candidates became widely available as the elections approached.
The seemingly endless multiplication of voices crying for aid tends to blunt the compassion of an increasingly indifferent and cynical public in the developed world.
Neither did personality characteristics such as trait anxiety, cynical distrust, or coping increase the risk.
Moreover, the rebuttal excuses often provided by the blackballed candidates made voters even more cynical about the politicians and the political process in general.
At least, we economists need to look at such claims with a cynical eye.
The exchange involved will indeed be a cynical exercise but it will be, nonetheless, a successful one.
Transforming 'angry young men' into embittered, cynical 'couch-potatoes'.
A number of deponents saw his charitable countenance as a cynical attempt at self-preservation.
This was a colossal failure, where cynical manipulation, massive corruption, and state terror derailed an expensive attempt to impose ' democracy ' from above.
One possible explanation might be that the relatively more affluent households are more cynical about compliance.
But love as fate, as fatality, cynical, innocent, cruel, - and thus true to nature!
The cynical will not take this sales talk too seriously.
The basic weaknesses in the political system which provided the opportunities for her cynical action have yet to be scrutinized.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.