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
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Recent Examples of sadistic
In the official trailer for the new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, there’s more talk about serial killers, sadistic psychopaths, and Elias Voit — the notorious Sicarius Killer played by the enthusiastic Zach Gilford.
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Lynette Rice, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
Chroniclers and foreign travelers left accounts of the sadistic tortures and mass executions that were conducted with Ivan’s participation.
—Dina Khapaeva, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2025
He’s sent on a rendezvous with the Coyotes as punishment, and that’s where Stabler comes face-to-face with Andre, the biker gang’s sadistic leader.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 17 Apr. 2025
Four women ultimately came forward and exposed Brightman’s sadistic scheme that prosecutors said lasted from around January 2022 through late 2023, shortly before his arrest by the feds.
—Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sadistic
Lynette Rice, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
Chroniclers and foreign travelers left accounts of the sadistic tortures and mass executions that were conducted with Ivan’s participation.
—Dina Khapaeva, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2025
He’s sent on a rendezvous with the Coyotes as punishment, and that’s where Stabler comes face-to-face with Andre, the biker gang’s sadistic leader.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 17 Apr. 2025
Four women ultimately came forward and exposed Brightman’s sadistic scheme that prosecutors said lasted from around January 2022 through late 2023, shortly before his arrest by the feds.
—Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sadistic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sadistic
Adjective
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When local Officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she’s left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
12 May 2025
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Bruno Silva via first-round KO This finish was absolutely brutal.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
11 May 2025
Adjective
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Scheifele’s emotional and inspirational decision to play mere hours after his father’s unexpected death — to play for his dad, to play because of his dad — ended in cruel fashion, with Scheifele helpless in the penalty box.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
18 May 2025
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At first the program seems to be benign, but Hayakawa’s film steadily reveals how the policy thrives on the cruel capitalist tenet that people are disposable.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2025
Adjective
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But even when locked in a tense, deadly standoff with the vicious Barbie, Moulin doesn’t break, and his courage and silence helps lead to the liberation of France, while leaving behind a new spirit of strength and resistance.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
10 May 2025
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Bone Tomahawk Year: 2015 Runtime: 2h 11m Director: S. Craig Zahler S. Craig Zahler has become one of the most divisive filmmakers working today after three vicious, brutal movies — Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete.—
Brian Tallerico,
Vulture,
7 May 2025
Adjective
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As savage Arctic cold was getting ready to surge south across North America, vivid imagery based on data from weather models showed us what was going to happen.—
Tom Yulsman,
Discover Magazine,
27 Dec. 2022
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The 2023 grand marshal is former Arizona Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, gravely wounded in a savage mass shooting in 2011 that also killed six people.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Dec. 2022
Adjective
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Wes Anderson is talking about a surreal moment that occurs early in his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, in which the protagonist, the ruthless international tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), experiences a vision of the afterlife.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
18 May 2025
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Ralph Fiennes will play the ruthless Panem dictator in director Francis Lawrence‘s forthcoming film in the franchise, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.—
Ryan Gajewski,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sadistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sadistic. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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