schadenfreude
noun
Did you know?
Ever a popular lookup on our site, schadenfreude refers to the joy you might feel at another person’s pain. It’s a compound of the German nouns Schaden, meaning “damage,” and Freude, meaning “joy.” Schadenfreude was a favored subject in Germany by the time it was introduced to English in the mid-1800s; discussed by the likes of Schopenhauer, Kant, and Nietzsche, schadenfreude was showing up in psychology books, literature for children, and critical theory. In English, the word was used mostly by academics until the early 1990s, when it was introduced to more general audiences via pop culture. In a 1991 episode of The Simpsons, for example, Lisa explains schadenfreude to Homer, who is gloating at his neighbor’s failure; she also tells him that the opposite of schadenfreude is sour grapes. “Boy,” he marvels, “those Germans have a word for everything.”
Examples of schadenfreude in a Sentence
Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 23 Sep. 2025
Humor responds to a misfortune with sadism and schadenfreude.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
Undoubtedly, Vols fans are dining on schadenfreude, because while Iamaleava’s team is winless, Tennessee is 2-0, flourishing with quarterback Joey Aguilar, who has become one of the great stories of the season’s first two weeks.
—Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY, 11 Sep. 2025
Images from the festival quickly went viral, cementing Fyre as the poster child for influencer excess and internet schadenfreude.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for schadenfreude
Cite this Entry
“Schadenfreude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schadenfreude. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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