Synonyms of sadistic

sadistic

adjective

sə-ˈdi-stik 

as in brutal

having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• brutal
• cruel
• vicious
• savage
• ruthless
• murderous
• merciless
• heartless
• inhuman
• barbaric
• barbarous
• inhumane
• brute
• fiendish
• ferocious
• truculent
• oppressive
• atrocious
• hateful
• harsh
• malicious
• pitiless
• butcherly
• wanton
• bloodthirsty
• red in tooth and claw
• grim
• unfeeling
• malevolent
• vindictive
• spiteful
• malignant
• sanguinary
• fell
• hard-hearted
• cutthroat
• draconian
• malign
• sanguine
• nasty
• ironhearted
• catty
• mean
• despiteful
• stonyhearted
• draconic
• heavy-handed
• hardhanded

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sympathetic
• benign
• kind
• humane
• compassionate
• warm
• kindhearted
• merciful
• charitable
• good-hearted
• benignant
• lenient
• tender
• tenderhearted
• pitying
• peaceful
• warmhearted
• peaceable
• pacific
• clement

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sadistic

This was Perez Hilton, after all, a man who had earned fame in the mid-two-thousands for his salacious, sarcastic, and often sadistic coverage of celebrity suffering. — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026

Bradshaw raised the ambiguity of the film’s central letter, in which Elisabet leaves an envelope open for Alma to read, and asked whether Bergman was showing a darker, more sadistic side of his heroine. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 4 Aug. 2026

Bryant then claims that Cunningham's stance on female sports is comparable to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem or denouncing the Fourth of July as sadistic. — Bobby Burack Outkick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026

He was executed for the sadistic death of his wife in front of her teenage son in 1992 in Orange County. — Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 24 July 2026