sadistic

adjective

sa·​dis·​tic sə-ˈdi-stik 

 also  sā-,

 or  sa-

: of, relating to, or characterized by sadism

sadistic fantasies

: taking pleasure in the infliction of pain, punishment, or humiliation on others

a leg … sawed off in sections by a sadistic surgeon

—The New Yorker

For my 41st birthday, an especially sadistic buddy gave me a video of me falling off my skateboard nearly 160 times.

—Bret Anthony Johnston

sadistically

sə-ˈdi-sti-k(ə-)lē 

 also  sā-

 or  sa-

adverb

… in a gangster story realism requires that the hoods kill each other off and do so sadistically.

—Robert F. Moss

Synonyms

• atrocious
• barbaric
• barbarous
• brutal
• brute
• butcherly
• cruel
• fiendish
• heartless
• inhuman
• inhumane
• savage
• truculent
• vicious
• wanton

Examples of sadistic in a Sentence

the troubled youth is being treated by a psychotherapist for his sadistic urges to hurt animals

Recent Examples on the Web

The highlight by far is a fantastically villainous turn by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as a sadistic arms dealer. —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 20 May 2025

Fred was known to have sadistic tendencies and wooed a teenage Rose to join him on his killing sprees. —Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 14 May 2025

The sadistic Lang, however, basks in such evil and partakes of it a little, too. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 2 May 2025

Jopling is a hitman with skull rings and a sadistic streak who does all sorts of dirty work, including engaging in some light decapitation and throwing a cat out the window before meeting an amusing end off a snowy cliff. —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sadistic

• artistic
• autistic
• ballistic
• cladistic
• heuristic
• holistic
• linguistic
• logistic
• monistic
• patristic
• simplistic
• sophistic