Sadistic means extremely cruel or enjoying the pain of others.

More specifically, sadistic can be used in the context of psychology in relation to the condition of sadism, in which a person gets sexual pleasure from other people’s pain. Sadistic can be used to describe a person or an action.

Example: The dictator was known for being sadistic and merciless, enjoying the pain of the people he suppressed.

The first records of sadistic in English come from the late 1880s. Sadistic is the adjective form of sadism, a loanword from the French word sadisme, which was derived from the name of the Marquis de Sade (a.k.a. Donatien Alphonse François, Comte de Sade). He was French writer and soldier who lived from 1740–1814 and wrote many works of fiction centering around sexual sadism.

Aside from its more specific use in the context of psychology, sadistic is often used to describe someone who is not only extremely cruel, but enjoys being cruel. Such a person can be called a sadist. Sadism should not be confused with schadenfreude, which is the pleasure or amusement felt when observing someone else’s misfortune. In psychiatric terms, the counterpart of sadism is masochism, a condition in which a person derives sexual pleasure from their own pain. The adjective form, masochistic, is also used in a general way to describe someone who enjoys pain or who tends to be self-destructive.

What are some other forms of sadistic?

• sadism (noun)
• sadist (noun)
• sadistically (adverb)
• nonsadistic (adjective)
• nonsadistically (adverb)
• unsadistic (adjective)

What are some synonyms for sadistic?

• vicious 
• ruthless
• brutal

What are some words that share a root or word element with sadistic? 

• sadomasochism
• masochist

What are some words that often get used in discussing sadistic?

• cruelty
• barbaric
• pain
• paraphilia

What are some words sadistic may be commonly confused with?

• masochistic

Sadistic is most often used in a general way to describe a person who is considered excessively cruel, especially when they seem to enjoy it.

Psychologists examined Internet trolls and found that the majority of them are narcissistic, psychopathic and/or sadistic.

— WOW Facts Of Life (@WOWFactsOfLife) February 7, 2020

I don’t have time for games. I can see from a mile away when someone’s trying to antagonize me to get a rise out of me for their sadistic pleasure. My energy is hella precious so I won’t be responding until you learn to act right.

— gaialogia (@gaialogia) February 9, 2020

Why is the weather starting to get so cuddly towards valentines day is this some sort of sadistic cosmic punishment against single people.

— Florah’s Child (@Karabo_XCVII) February 10, 2020

Which of the following sentences uses sadistic correctly?

A. It’s absolutely sadistic of you to keep eating those cookies when you’ve already said they taste terrible.
B. It was completely sadistic when Bill brought Sarah her favorite flowers.
C. My coach was sadistic—he made us go running in freezing weather and then laughed about it.