psychopath
Americannoun
noun
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Etymology
Origin of psychopath
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Explanation
It would be unfortunate to end up alone in an elevator with a psychopath. A psychopath is a mentally ill person with violent tendencies. Psychopath is a psychiatric term that refers to a person suffering from a mental illness involving violent behavior or various kinds of abnormal social interactions. A person who's been diagnosed as a psychopath has a lot of trouble interacting with other people and living a normal life. The noun psychopath is also used casually to mean simply a bizarre or unpredictably violent person. The word comes from the Greek words for "mind" and "suffering": psykhe and pathos.
Vocabulary lists containing psychopath
Common Senses: Path ("Feeling")
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Body Language: Psych ("Mind")
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Robin Williams (1951-2014) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Not everyone with psychopathic traits commits crimes, and not every person who commits a crime is a psychopath, but research has consistently linked psychopathy with a higher risk of violent behavior.
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2026
Leanne explains her research on “dark personality traits” and success in the business world, how to spot a true psychopath, and what to do if you find yourself working with one.
From Slate ● Apr. 14, 2026
The 34-year-old, who finished 21st in Beijing four years ago, came second in Friday's training, proclaiming himself a very satisfied "psychopath" after overcoming mental and physical challenges.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
You’d be unwise to look to the movies for economic insight—this one amounts to an extended fatuous argument that an individual who behaved like a corporate restructuring would be a psychopath.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
The fact that he smiled and waved doesn’t mean anything, he could be a psychopath for all I know.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
Historically, we have pathologized people who lack such impulses; they are known as psychopaths, and their qualities have been deemed incompatible with a functioning society.
From Slate ● Jan. 9, 2026
"There's a subset of people, like 1% of the population, who are psychopaths, who are not worried about the vulnerable, who are worried first and foremost about cementing power and gaining status."
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2025
A lot of the stories I was reading were about narcissistic men and psychopaths, and how they operate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2024
The psychopaths I’ve encountered in my career have been neither exceptionally bright nor socially able, nor at all charming.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
People exhibiting this purest form of the disorder would become known, in the jargon of psychiatry, as “Cleckley” psychopaths.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
