Origin: Latin suffix -al
Cynical has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
believing the worst of human nature and motives; having a sneering disbelief in e.g. selflessness of others
"After seeing how quickly his colleagues turned on him during the crisis, he became deeply cynical about anyone ever acting out of genuine kindness again."
Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
"The historian's lecture on Diogenes left me feeling cynical as he dismissed modern moralizing in favor of the ancient belief that self-control alone could achieve true virtue."
Of or relating to the Cynics, a sect of Ancient Greek philosophers who believed virtue to be the only good and self-control to be the only means of achieving virtue.