a troubled youth with a streak of sadism in him
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sadism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Masochism and sadism are both about the enjoyment of pain. Masochism refers to the enjoyment of experiencing pain while sadism refers to the enjoyment of inflicting pain on someone else.
Interestingly, both masochism and sadism are eponymous words. English has thousands of such words, taken from the names of people both real and fictional. Masochism comes from the name of the 19th century German novelist, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. It is unusual in that it began to be used during the lifetime of the man from whom it originated (Sacher-Masoch died in 1895, and masochism had been in printed use since 1892). Sadism comes from the name of the French writer, the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814).
The two words are not only often encountered in connection with one another, they have been combined into a single word, sadomasochism.
First Known Use: 1818
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearatrociousness, atrocity, barbarity, barbarousness, brutality, cruelty, fiendishness, heartlessness, inhumanity, inhumanness, savageness, savagery, truculence, viciousness, wantonness;
benignity, compassion, good-heartedness, humaneness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindness, sympathy, tenderheartedness;
tenderness, warmheartedness, warmness, warmth;
charitableness, clemency, leniency, mercifulness, mercy, pity;
hard-heartedness, mercilessness, pitilessness, ruthlessness, unfeelingness;
ferociousness, ferocity, fierceness, grimness;
bloodlust, bloodthirstiness, murderousness, sanguineness, sanguinity;
cattiness, hatefulness, malevolence, maliciousness, malignity, meanness, nastiness, spitefulness;
hardhandedness, harshness, heavy-handedness, oppressiveness;
: enjoyment that someone gets from being violent or cruel or from causing pain; especially : sexual enjoyment from hurting or punishing someone
See words that rhyme with sadism Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for sadism Spanish Central: Translation of sadism Nglish: Translation of sadism for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about sadism
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