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

Examples of sadistic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Nivola is set to play a sadistic new iteration of the Rhino — who was previously played by Paul Giamatti in 2014's Amazing Spider-Man 2 — in the upcoming film. —EW.com, 14 Aug. 2024

The chillingly cold doctor in Amundsen; the frightening man running the riding stable, in Runaway; the sadistic and pedophilic taxidermist, in Vandals. —Roxana Robinson, TIME, 18 July 2024

In Munro’s work, women are repressed, silenced, and bullied by sadistic men, yet their thoughts and secret rebellions are slyly subversive. —Constance Grady, Vox, 9 July 2024

If Tenax is the antihero of Those About Die—a poor man’s Don Draper or Tony Soprano, who does terrible things well but has redeeming qualities and his own peculiar moral code—then Domitian is its openly sadistic villain. —Judy Berman, TIME, 17 July 2024