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
The New YorkerFor my 41st birthday, an especially sadistic buddy gave me a video of me falling off my skateboard nearly 160 times.—Bret Anthony Johnston
Bret Anthony Johnston
sadistically
adverb
… in a gangster story realism requires that the hoods kill each other off and do so sadistically.
—Robert F. Moss
Robert F. Moss
Synonyms
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
The actor, who tends to embody movie monsters, is up against a sadistic Anthony Hopkins in the thriller, which hits theaters on March 21.
—Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
In Season 2, Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (played by Lee Jung-jae), returns to the sadistic competition three years after winning 45.6 billion in South Korean won as the sole survivor of the event, in order to now put an end to Squid Game and save the lives of the players around him.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 30 Jan. 2025
Yeoh clearly had a blast playing a sadistic, horny version of the kind and upstanding Captain Georgiou who died in Discovery's premiere.
—Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2025
Written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut, Hellraiser sees a woman try to banish a sadistic group of demonic beings back to their own dimension after inadvertently releasing from a mysterious puzzle box.
—Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025
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Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
In Season 2, Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (played by Lee Jung-jae), returns to the sadistic competition three years after winning 45.6 billion in South Korean won as the sole survivor of the event, in order to now put an end to Squid Game and save the lives of the players around him.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 30 Jan. 2025
Yeoh clearly had a blast playing a sadistic, horny version of the kind and upstanding Captain Georgiou who died in Discovery's premiere.
—Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2025
Written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut, Hellraiser sees a woman try to banish a sadistic group of demonic beings back to their own dimension after inadvertently releasing from a mysterious puzzle box.
—Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for sadistic
Dictionary Entries Near sadistic
Cite this Entry
“Sadistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sadistic. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
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