At my writers' group on Tuesday someone read out a piece of his work which ontained the word "cynicised" which he admitted making up with a meaning of "made cynical". None of us could think of a real word with just this meaning though "jaundiced" and "disillusioned" were suggested.
Can anyone think of a better word.
My suggestion was to recast the sentence to avoid the need for it.

It would be easier to see the sentence for his word in context. Is there some aesthetic reason not to use periphrasis?

I agree with jheem that I'd like to see the context. Is there a reason he couldn't have just have used "made cynical?" I googled the phrase and saw it used a number of times. It would seem better than "cynicized."

I agree that it would be wise to avoid a neologism. Another possible alternative word could be soured.

From memory he'd written something like (and apologies Len if I get this wrong)

"This cynicised but once gentle man was now..."

"Made cynical" doesn't really work but any oif the other possibilities does and I still think a recasting would be better.

"This cynicised but once gentle man was now..."

Well, one could write: "Once gentle but now cynical, this man was ..." or "This once gentle but now cynical man was ..." If the the event of his being made cynical is important, one could write: "This once gentle man, now made cynical by X, was ..."

quote:

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Originally posted by jheem:
"This once gentle man, now made cynical by X, was ..."

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which is pretty near word for word the suggestion that I made to him on Tuesday.