masochist

noun

mas·​och·​ist ˈma-sə-kist 

ˈma-zə-,

 also  ˈmā-

plural masochists

1

: a person who derives sexual gratification from being subjected to physical pain or humiliation : an individual given to masochism

But Ksenia is a masochist who cannot experience sexual pleasure without first experiencing extreme pain.

—Christopher Rice

2

: a person who takes pleasure in pain and suffering

… a select group of cops, bikers, bodybuilders and other masochists who thrive on the deprivation that exercising in unfiltered 110 degree heat produces.

—Allison Glock

Some mathematical masochist has calculated that the brain was adding 150 million brain cells every hundred thousand years, the sort of useless statistic beloved of a tourist guide.

—Matt Ridley

Examples of masochist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Heck, Léa Seydoux's character didn't seem all that upset about being assigned a mission to seduce the snake-like masochist. —Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 3 July 2024

Evans’ painful interviews have inspired masochists like the Stanochs, to convince their own friends to gather around a table and cry, sweat, vomit and suffer together. —Lily O'Neill, The Denver Post, 27 June 2024

Great panic fodder for masochists.) TNR Newsletters. —Heather Souvaine Horn, The New Republic, 9 June 2023

In Banshees, McDonagh appears content to portray his two protagonists as, respectively, a senseless masochist and a senseless arsonist. —Hazlitt, 17 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Masochist, from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch †1895 Austrian fiction writer and journalist + -ist -ist entry 1, after Masochismus masochism

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

masochist

noun

mas·​och·​ist -kəst 

: an individual who is given to masochism