CYNIC

Meaning

A person who believes that all people are motivated by selfishness.

• adjectiveCynical (in all senses)

CYNIC as a word-puzzle answer

CYNIC is a 5-letter word with 1 vowel (I) and 4 consonants (C, Y, N, C). It repeats 1 letter, which is a classic trap — guessers who assume five distinct letters get stuck.

It leans on high-frequency letters (N, I), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.