as in brutal
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
the troubled youth is being treated by a psychotherapist for his sadistic urges to hurt animals
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Recent Examples of sadistic
The Rule of Jenny Pen stars Lithgow as Dave Crealy, a seemingly gentle man who secretly terrorizes the residents with a sadistic game involving the titular dementia doll.
—
Simon Thompson, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2025
Galloway Township detectives busted up the sadistic operation after uncovering online invitations to a March 2024 event, scheduled to take place at a private residence with an arena built specifically to host rooster fights, authorities said.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
The film's brash, documentary-style production perfectly captured Hackman's character, a seething, sadistic NYC cop seeking to bust a ring of heroin smugglers — like Ahab on the hunt for the white whale.
—David Morgan, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2025
Alongside Marvel movie veterans Wesley Snipes as Blade and Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Tatum plays Gambit as a hero hiding in The Void, waiting for his chance to strike at the sadistic Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
—Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sadistic
Simon Thompson, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2025
Galloway Township detectives busted up the sadistic operation after uncovering online invitations to a March 2024 event, scheduled to take place at a private residence with an arena built specifically to host rooster fights, authorities said.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
The film's brash, documentary-style production perfectly captured Hackman's character, a seething, sadistic NYC cop seeking to bust a ring of heroin smugglers — like Ahab on the hunt for the white whale.
—David Morgan, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2025
Alongside Marvel movie veterans Wesley Snipes as Blade and Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Tatum plays Gambit as a hero hiding in The Void, waiting for his chance to strike at the sadistic Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
—Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sadistic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sadistic
Adjective
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And often times that can yield lead to some brutal consequences.—
Jeryl Brunner,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
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Even without snow, the drop in temperature alone can be brutal.—
Elizabeth Medeiros,
Health,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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What's particularly cruel about that reality is that after years of dealing with questions about his weight, the former Duke Blue Devil star played a career-high 70 games in 2023-24.—
Bobby Krivitsky,
Forbes.com,
1 Apr. 2025
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As poor, lost, beautiful Dorian becomes more and more shallow and cruel—with only the portrait locked away in his attic reflecting the decay of his body and soul—Williams and Snook together locate Wilde’s evocation of a particularly insidious kind of societal cancer.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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This creates a vicious cycle: more applications lead to lower acceptance rates, triggering even more applications from worried students.—
Sarah Hernholm,
Forbes,
22 Mar. 2025
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However, some people develop unhelpful habits and ways of thinking about sleep that create a vicious cycle, said Krieger, who is also director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.—
Sandee LaMotte,
CNN,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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As savage Arctic cold was getting ready to surge south across North America, vivid imagery based on data from weather models showed us what was going to happen.—
Tom Yulsman,
Discover Magazine,
27 Dec. 2022
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The 2023 grand marshal is former Arizona Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, gravely wounded in a savage mass shooting in 2011 that also killed six people.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Dec. 2022
Adjective
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Pierce Brosnan's patriarch is ruthless, but is his wife actually pulling the strings?—
Matt Cabral,
EW.com,
30 Mar. 2025
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Successful entrepreneurs are ruthless with time and priorities Successful entrepreneurs are ruthless with their time and fiercely protective of their focus.—
Melissa Houston,
Forbes.com,
29 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sadistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sadistic. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.
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