Meaning & use
sadism
Last updated
The tendency to take pleasure, especially cruel pleasure, in causing pain or suffering to others.
See it in a sentence
The coach's constant public humiliation of struggling players bordered on sadism.
Historians have described some prison guards' treatment of captives as outright sadism.
A note on using this word
In psychology the term has a more specific clinical meaning; in everyday use it simply describes enjoying others' suffering.
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