sadistic

adjective

sa·​dis·​tic sə-ˈdi-stik 

 also  sā-,

 or  sa-

: of, relating to, or characterized by sadism

sadistic fantasies

: taking pleasure in the infliction of pain, punishment, or humiliation on others

a leg … sawed off in sections by a sadistic surgeon

—The New Yorker

For my 41st birthday, an especially sadistic buddy gave me a video of me falling off my skateboard nearly 160 times.

—Bret Anthony Johnston

sadistically

sə-ˈdi-sti-k(ə-)lē 

 also  sā-

 or  sa-

adverb

… in a gangster story realism requires that the hoods kill each other off and do so sadistically.

—Robert F. Moss

Synonyms

• atrocious
• barbaric
• barbarous
• brutal
• brute
• butcherly
• cruel
• fiendish
• heartless
• inhuman
• inhumane
• savage
• truculent
• vicious
• wanton

Examples of sadistic in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

After being put through the wringer for much of the film's two-hour-plus runtime by the sadistic, supernatural Smile Entity, pop superstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is losing her grip on reality. —Ew Staff, EW.com, 5 Dec. 2024

The action-thriller follows a mysterious woman gunslinger (Stone) who disembarks in the town of Redemption to avenge her father, killed by the town’s sadistic mayor (Gene Hackman). —Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024

Arch-manipulator Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is close to the Oval Office, while the sadistic, psychotic Homelander (Antony Starr) is planning a superhuman uprising. —Matt Kamen, WIRED, 30 Nov. 2024

In the second installment of the hit Korean thriller series, premiering Dec. 26, the winning Player 456 (played by Lee Jung-jae) returns to the sadistic competition to put an end to Squid Game and save lives. —Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 26 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above