Synonyms of sadism

sadism

noun

ˈsā-ˌdi-zəm 

as in cruelty

disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others

a troubled youth with a streak of sadism in him

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cruelty
• brutality
• savagery
• atrocity
• barbarity
• inhumanity
• heartlessness
• savageness
• cruelness
• viciousness
• murderousness
• fiendishness
• wantonness
• barbarousness
• truculence
• ruthlessness
• inhumanness
• mercilessness
• atrociousness
• meanness
• pitilessness
• ferocity
• grimness
• bloodthirstiness
• malevolence
• oppressiveness
• bloodlust
• ferociousness
• fierceness
• spitefulness
• maliciousness
• hatefulness
• malignity
• hard-heartedness
• sanguinity
• unfeelingness
• fellness
• harshness
• nastiness
• cattiness
• sanguineness
• heavy-handedness
• despitefulness
• hardhandedness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sympathy
• compassion
• humanity
• kindness
• humaneness
• tenderness
• benignity
• warmth
• tenderheartedness
• kindheartedness
• warmness
• good-heartedness
• pity
• mercy
• leniency
• clemency
• warmheartedness
• charitableness
• mercifulness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sadism

David Lynch’s cinematic masterpiece pulls back the curtain on the sadism and malevolence hiding behind the picket fences of middle America. —Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025

All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. —Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

Pavlovich’s allegations, like others against Gaiman, often involve acts associated with BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism). —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 13 Jan. 2025

To understand why Germans at different levels of society backed Hitler, scholars often cite people’s deep commitment to Nazi ideology; the hatred of Jews, homosexuals, Romani, or Communists; or sheer psychopathic sadism. —Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025