Sadistic

//səˈdɪstɪk// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Delighting in or feeling pleasure from the pain or humiliation of others.

    "Together, with the help of the drunkard Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the only District 12 citizen ever to win the Games, they challenge tributes that range from sadistic volunteers to crafty kids like the pint-sized Rue (Amandla Stenberg) to the truly helpless and soon-to-be-dead."

  2. 2
    Of behaviour which gives pleasure in the pain or humiliation of others.
  3. 3
    The behavior of one who enjoys teasing others. colloquial, slang
  4. 4
    Causing a high degree of pain or humiliation. colloquial
Adjective
  1. 1
    deriving pleasure or sexual gratification from inflicting pain on another wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
animalanthropophagousatrociousbarbaricbarbarousbeastly

Example

More examples

"Fadil was a sadistic sociopath."

Etymology

From sadist + -ic.

Related phrases

anal-sadisticsadistic personality disorder

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