Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who practises sadism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who derives pleasure through cruelty or pain to others.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain or others

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named after the Marquis de Sade, famed for his libertine writings depicting the pleasure of inflicting pain to others. The word for "sadism" (sadisme) is forged or acknowledged in the 1834 posthumous reprint of French lexicographer Boiste's Dictionnaire universel de la langue française; it is reused along with "sadist" (sadique) in 1862 by French critic Sainte-Beuve in his commentary of Flaubert's novel Salammbô; it is reused (possibly independently) in 1886 by Austrian psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing in Psychopathia Sexualis which popularized it; it is directly reused in 1905 by Freud in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality which definitely established the word.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sadist.

Examples

  • "Seidl has been described as a sadist, but underneath all the gloom and doom and constant cruelty is obviously a disappointed idealist crying out for people to care for one another."

    GreenCine Daily: Cannes. Import/Export. 2007

  • "The Minister of Justice can best be described as a sadist," he said in a statement.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • So the sadist is the fate of the woman; the woman the fate of the masochist.

    Analogies and metaphors | Letter Never Sent 2005

  • "Seidl has been described as a sadist, but underneath all the gloom and doom and constant cruelty is obviously a disappointed idealist crying out for people to care for one another."

    GreenCine Daily 2009

  • Avman at the Louisiana Conservative describes his "sadist" streak:

    Archive 2008-08-01 2008

  • Avman at the Louisiana Conservative describes his "sadist" streak:

    Your Right Hand Thief 2008

  • It takes a special kind of sadist, doesn't it, to troll Lebanese blogs and either lecture or gloat at the misery of people whose homes and families are under military attack?

    But Why Are You Lebanese So Angry? 2006

  • Koch seems unwilling to peel back the labels of "sadist" and "misogynist" to even guess at Hem's deeper motivations.

    Archive 2005-08-01 2005

  • Koch seems unwilling to peel back the labels of "sadist" and "misogynist" to even guess at Hem's deeper motivations.

    The Breaking Point 2005

  • What kind of sadist allows their patient to suffer through this kind of pain for two weeks, whilst prescribing 4 days supply of pain pills that have about as much effect as a flinstone vitamin!

    catpewk Diary Entry catpewk 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.