sadist

noun

sa·​dist ˈsā-dist  ˈsa- 

plural sadists

: one characterized by sadism : a person who takes pleasure in inflicting pain, punishment, or humiliation on others

a sexual sadist

He's a sadist and, where Toby is concerned, an unusually relentless one: he's in the boy's face constantly, prodding, belittling, taunting.

—Terrence Rafferty

To the penal colony, the cat-o'-nine-tails was a tool more basic than the hoe. On Norfolk Island, where the camp was commanded by a succession of sadists, there were other forms of torture as well …

—Clive James

Examples of sadist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The hippies were counter-dreaming something new, and beginning to move in that direction all at the same time, singing the same song, and if were they left alone, what was in-control might slip away, like a woman held hostage by a sadist. —Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025

Kahekili is a sadist who’s gone mad with power-lust, and his son Kupule (Brandon Finn) can’t decide if, or how, to intervene as his father tortures and slaughters anyone who stands in his way. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 31 July 2025

Moretz plays Reeve LeClaire, who is haunted by the memory of teenage captivity at the hands of a sadist and fears a return to the nightmare when she is asked to mentor a survivor and gets pulled into a game of cat and mouse. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 16 July 2025

Brewer, particularly, redefines the bullying aristocrat, played in the movie as a simpering sadist, but a more robust, complicated man onstage. —Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 8 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

sadist

noun

sa·​dist

ˈsād-əst,

ˈsad-

: an individual who practices sadism

Medical Definition

sadist

noun

sa·​dist ˈsād-əst  ˈsad- 

: an individual who practices sadism