masochist

[mas-uh-kist]

noun

1. Psychiatry.,  a person who has masochism, the condition in which sexual or other gratification depends on one's suffering physical pain or humiliation.

2. a person who is gratified by pain, degradation, etc., that is self-imposed or imposed by others.

3. a person who finds pleasure in self-denial, submissiveness, etc.

Other Word Forms

• masochistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of masochist¹

First recorded in 1890–1900; masoch(ism) + -ist

Example Sentences

While their dominant/submissive games generate a lot of humor, Neighbor Guy’s not portrayed as a clown, as is the usual case for masochists in media.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I would feign shock or dismay at its popularity if I didn’t already know that we are a nation of self-serving masochists.

Read more on Salon

“Spoken like a true masochist, I’m even looking forward to the disagreements, because I think we’re in a moment that we’re being tested in our ability to tolerate each other more through differences.”

Read more on Seattle Times

Cooper, 54, an Oakland biotech executive who has handled finance for a number of companies, including one that sold for $7 billion, isn’t a masochist, exactly.

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Call me a masochist, but what I most loved about Rebecca Gilman’s devastating play was that it tapped into multiple registers of despair: individual, communal, ecological.

Read more on New York Times