as in cynical
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Recent Examples of nihilistic
The non-profit also found a teenager who stabbed people outside a mosque in Turkey appeared to have been influenced by nihilistic subcultures.
—
Curt Devine, CNN Money, 10 Feb. 2026
The community is simply too nihilistic.
—Thomas Chatterton Williams, The Atlantic, 19 Jan. 2026
The film — violent, nihilistic, steeped in an ocean’s worth of fake blood — set off a minor moral panic.
—Jack Lang, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
Eventually, Daniel’s delusions became nihilistic.
—Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 15 Jan. 2026
What led to this nihilistic refusal to believe that people helping people could make the world a better place?
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 Jan. 2026
Worse, Spike is forced to join Crystal’s gang and take the name Jimmy, effectively joining a nihilistic death cult that, for a time, brings to mind the daddy of all nihilistic death cults, the one seen in 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Jan. 2026
In December, Patel wrote on X that the FBI is pursuing hundreds of nihilistic violent extremism cases, including many from another network called 764.
—Lauren Fichten, CBS News, 12 Jan. 2026
But the movie isn’t a cheaply cynical or nihilistic experience; its gravest horrors spring from a complex understanding of how human compassion persists in a universe that is fundamentally opposed to its existence.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2025
Curt Devine, CNN Money, 10 Feb. 2026
The community is simply too nihilistic.
—Thomas Chatterton Williams, The Atlantic, 19 Jan. 2026
The film — violent, nihilistic, steeped in an ocean’s worth of fake blood — set off a minor moral panic.
—Jack Lang, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
Eventually, Daniel’s delusions became nihilistic.
—Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 15 Jan. 2026
What led to this nihilistic refusal to believe that people helping people could make the world a better place?
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 Jan. 2026
Worse, Spike is forced to join Crystal’s gang and take the name Jimmy, effectively joining a nihilistic death cult that, for a time, brings to mind the daddy of all nihilistic death cults, the one seen in 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Jan. 2026
In December, Patel wrote on X that the FBI is pursuing hundreds of nihilistic violent extremism cases, including many from another network called 764.
—Lauren Fichten, CBS News, 12 Jan. 2026
But the movie isn’t a cheaply cynical or nihilistic experience; its gravest horrors spring from a complex understanding of how human compassion persists in a universe that is fundamentally opposed to its existence.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nihilistic
Adjective
-
In his experiences and chronicles of the great ideological battles of the twentieth century, Curzio Malaparte was a shape-shifter—pitiless, clinical, cynical, unsentimental, indifferent to morality and idealism.—
Leah Downey,
The New York Review of Books,
7 Feb. 2026
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That didn’t happen, not least because of the cynical fecklessness of regional powers.—
Juan Pablo Spinetto,
Twin Cities,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Known for his spare, unforgiving style and darkly comic fatalistic sensibility, along with his penchant for leather jackets, lots of smoking and a deadpan sense of humor, Tarr was a quintessential arthouse filmmaker.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
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There was this kind of fatalistic view that there was not that much that could be done.—
Alexa Mikhail,
Flow Space,
18 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
New meme shows 'nihilist penguin' walking to a mountain.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
31 Jan. 2026
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Benjamin Voisin won Best Actor for his performance as the novel’s nihilist protagonist Meursault.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
18 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Over the last several years, inflation, domestic conflict, economic uncertainty, and political upheaval have made many Americans feel more pessimistic about the future.—
Jake Angelo,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2026
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Glaucon’s characterization anticipates the Hobbesian view of the world—pessimistic and fearful of what unsocialized humans in the state of nature can do to each other.—
Paul Rosenzweig,
Washington Post,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nihilistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nihilistic. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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