masochist

noun

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mas·och·ist | \ ˈma-sə-kist

, ˈma-zə- also ˈmā- \

plural masochists

Definition of masochist

1 : a person who derives sexual gratification from being subjected to physical pain or humiliation : an individual given to masochism But Ksenia is a masochist who cannot experience sexual pleasure without first experiencing extreme pain.— Christopher Rice

2 : a person who takes pleasure in pain and suffering … a select group of cops, bikers, bodybuilders and other masochists who thrive on the deprivation that exercising in unfiltered 110 degree heat produces.— Allison Glock Some mathematical masochist has calculated that the brain was adding 150 million brain cells every hundred thousand years, the sort of useless statistic beloved of a tourist guide.— Matt Ridley

Examples of masochist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Bint Aamir was no masochist, but there’s a masochistic element to Zuhour’s ruminations. — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 24 May 2022 Soccer fans have Who Are Ya?; Quordle is four times the fun; Crosswordle is a masochist’s dream. — Matt Gardner, Forbes, 22 Apr. 2022 The last thing any Bengals fan/chronicler/card-carrying masochist wants is to be Charlie Brown-ed. — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 28 July 2021 In the corner was a large chair fit to be the throne of a king or a dictator or a masochist who enjoys cramps. — Anthony Veasna So, The New Yorker, 5 July 2021 Krail, one of the Central Coast Section’s most successful coaches over the past 35 years, is no masochist. — Mitch Stephens, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Apr. 2021 Within any sadomasochistic relationship, the masochist has a say in what’s being done to them. — Yasmin Lajoie, refinery29.com, 1 Dec. 2020 Depression is a white supremacist, a malignant narcissist, a rape apologist, a gaslighter, Iago, a sadist, a masochist, a hot Lego underfoot, a mind made hell. — Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020 That impression of sweatlessness is the masochist’s ideal—and writing, many writers will tell you, is masochism, a torture and a torment, an exercise in mental brick-breaking that justifies itself in pursuit of the apt and elegant line. — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2020 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'masochist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.