What does "masochism" mean?

The (often sexual) enjoyment of receiving pain or humiliation.

Masochism

Q: What is a synonym for "masochism"?

Common synonyms include: active algolagnia, algolagnia, algolagny, algophilia, algophilia, amphierotism.

noun

noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The (often sexual) enjoyment of receiving pain or humiliation. countable, uncountable
2
sexual pleasure obtained from receiving punishment (physical or psychological) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

active algolagnia algolagnia algolagny algophilia algophilia amphierotism

Antonyms

All antonyms

sadism

Example

More examples

"Truth is pure, but truth is painful. No sane, selfish person would ever accept things for what they are. Such is the masochism inherent in "truth"."

Etymology

From German Masochismus, coined alongside Sadismus in 1886 by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. Named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose novel "Venus in Furs" explores a sadomasochistic relationship, + -ism.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.