sadistic
Americanadjective
Usage
What does sadistic mean? Sadistic means extremely cruel or enjoying the pain of others.More specifically, sadistic can be used in the context of psychology in relation to the condition of sadism, in which a person gets sexual pleasure from other people’s pain. Sadistic can be used to describe a person or an action.Example: The dictator was known for being sadistic and merciless, enjoying the pain of the people he suppressed.
Other Word Forms
- nonsadistic adjective
- nonsadistically adverb
- sadistically adverb
- unsadistic adjective
- unsadistically adverb
Etymology
Origin of sadistic
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.
He self-referentially calls himself “that sadistic letter-abuser, Douglas R. Hofstadter,” and there is indeed a lot of vigorous torquing of serifs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
IndieWire's David Ehrlich described the original footage as "so hypnotically sadistic" that the newer material struggles to compete with it.
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2024
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, the movie portrays the stoic battle of a taciturn, retired army captain in the mid-18th century as he tries to tame the hostile Jutland landscape and outwit an evil, sadistic local aristocratic.
From Reuters • Sep. 1, 2023
“I do get annoyed when you are told to be aggressive or sadistic when the character isn’t always required to be,” the actor said in 1985, referencing his experience working with Friedkin.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2023
Some kapos were insane, some were sadistic, and some were not so bad.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
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.
