cynics
Trust no one
Cynics are people who doubt the sincerity of others' motives, assuming self-interest underlies apparent goodness: The cynics said she only donated for the tax break.
The word suggests world-weary skepticism, sometimes justified, sometimes reflexive.
A cynic may be right about human nature or may simply be unable to recognize genuine virtue. (Capitalized Cynics were ancient Greek philosophers who rejected conventional desires for wealth and status.)
Founder of Cynicism
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
- austerityEnforced economic stringency
rejection · simplicity · shamelessness · cosmopolitanism · Athens · barrel · lantern
Irony used to mock
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- scornHostile dismissive feeling
- contemptDisdainful disregard
- derisionContemptuous mockery
disdain · scoffing · disparagement · sneering · ridicule · sardonic · caustic · acerbic
Disposition toward doubt
- distrustAbsence of confidence
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- suspicionSense of unease about motives
- incredulityInability to accept something
wariness · misgivings · uncertainty · scrutiny · disbelief · hesitation · reservation · qualm
Rejection of objective meaning
- gloomPervasive dimness or dejection
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- despairTotal absence of hope
- hopelessnessState without hope
negativity · bleakness · defeatism · melancholy · misanthropy · discontent · world-weariness · jadedness
Diogenes
Founder of Cynicism
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
austerity · rejection · simplicity · shamelessness · cosmopolitanism · Athens · barrel · lantern
sarcasm
Irony used to mock
derision · disdain · scoffing · disparagement · sneering · ridicule · sardonic · caustic · acerbic · barbed
skepticism
Disposition toward doubt
- distrustAbsence of confidence
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- suspicionSense of unease about motives
incredulity · wariness · misgivings · uncertainty · scrutiny · disbelief · hesitation · reservation · qualm · naysaying
nihilism
Rejection of objective meaning
- gloomPervasive dimness or dejection
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- despairTotal absence of hope
hopelessness · negativity · bleakness · defeatism · melancholy · misanthropy · discontent · world-weariness · jadedness · disillusionment
parody
Satirical imitation
- witClever, inventive humor
- humorAmusing quality
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
lampoon · banter · burlesque · spoof · travesty · farce · drollery · raillery · trenchancy · facetiousness
- Iconoclastsheretics, freethinkers, dissidents, mavericks, radicals
- negativistspessimists, defeatists, doomers, doomsayers, negative Nellies
- Complainerscomplainers, whiners, grumblers, gripers, moaners
- nonbelieversatheist, atheists, agnostic, agnostics, nonbeliever
- scornersscoffers, mockers, deriders, sneerers, jeerers
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
cynicsbelievers
Those having faith
trusters · naifs · innocents · true believers · philanthropists
- cynical humorJokes expressing distrust