schadenfreude
noun
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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
Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2025
The sketch has returned twice more, including this season for an election edition, and has been a schadenfreude delight each time.
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—Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 22 Oct. 2016
Russia’s reaction to Trump’s trade duties has been mixed, with state media observing the measures and market fallout with a mixture of cool detachment, some concern over global economic volatility and a touch of schadenfreude at the turbulence hitting the West.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 17 Apr. 2025
Another way of positioning this reaction is as an example of schadenfreude, a term used to explain taking glee in someone’s suffering—and that’s a key reason to explaining why some people are reacting to the stock market dip in this way.
—Callum Booth, Forbes, 12 Mar. 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 7 May. 2025.
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