How to Use sadism in a Sentence

sadism

noun
Definition of sadismnext
Synonyms for sadismnext
  • Yet little in his life story would suggest the sadism of those acts.
    — latimes.com, 27 Apr. 2018
  • The acronym BDSM stands for bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism.
    — Michael Tarm, The Seattle Times, 2 July 2017
  • The sadism glitch didn’t keep Minaj from being the unquestioned winner of the telecast.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 29 Aug. 2022
  • And as bad as von Trier's playful sadism may be, his defensive pedantry may be even worse.
    — Justin Chang, latimes.com, 15 May 2018
  • What was new about the Jacobins was a deliberate, gloating sadism that is still shocking to read about.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2021
  • This combination of elitism and sadism is distinct to Fincher, as is his puke-and-urine color scheme.
    — Armond White, National Review, 17 Nov. 2023
  • The Purge: Anarchy (2014) took viewers out into city to get a better gauge of the widespread sadism sweeping the nation.
    — refinery29.com, 3 July 2018
  • Certain moments drift into sadism (there’s some ugly knife work), though this is also part of the genre handbook.
    — Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2020
  • But this can also sound like a nonviolent (and still extremely painful) form of sadism.
    — New York Times, 18 Mar. 2022
  • Laaksonen included scenes of kink and bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism in his work.
    — R. Daniel Foster, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2019
  • The show portrays Lydia’s sadism but doesn’t really seem to comprehend it.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 13 July 2019
  • His lament that Hurricane Maria has derailed the federal budget dressed his sadism up in cool, Olympian judgment.
    — Katy Waldman, Slate Magazine, 13 Oct. 2017
  • If her female characters had ever seemed to lack agency, here was the compelling context: male sadism.
    — Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2019
  • Eroticism and sadism abound here between the characters, and the film includes a variety of explicit scenes.
    — Katherine J Igoe, Marie Claire, 1 Oct. 2021
  • In 2004, revelations of torture and sadism at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq prompted shock and anger both domestically and abroad.
    — Lucien Bruggeman, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2021
  • BDSM is an acronym that stands for any or all of the following: bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; sadism and masochism.
    — Rose Surnow, Cosmopolitan, 18 Nov. 2016
  • To the sadism of white America, Davis contrasts the Native reverence for living creatures.
    — Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2022
  • In humans, Rorschach inkblots might help to ferret out a killer by coaxing out hints of anger or sadism — emotions that might motivate someone to commit heinous acts.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2018
  • Compelling him to testify would be not thoroughness but sadism.
    — Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 23 Jan. 2020
  • As viscerally upsetting as that opening scene is, The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t traffic in sadism for its own sake.
    — Emma Dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, 25 Apr. 2018
  • But the fact is that this episode of sadism by rogue cops and innumerable others incidents like it have been tolerated and covered up for decades.
    — Jason Flom, Rolling Stone, 6 May 2024
  • There’s always been a steely, sinister edge to Connery’s screen presence, a hint of sadism beneath all his beauty, wit and physical grace.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2020
  • Whatever the reason for the too-heavy dose — accident, hands shaking, sadism — there is no visual difference between that dose and a light one.
    — Jesse Barron, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2020
  • The expedient relations between empathy and sadism, the possibility that the two words might name the same feeling, is a large theme in the book.
    — Hannah Gold, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
  • McCoy is certain that the victims’ deaths can be traced to the door of the richest family in Glasgow—whose ice-cold patriarch and his wastrel son are rumored to host orgies laced with drugs and sadism.
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 4 May 2018
  • The brothers also understood the weirdly seductive sadism of restaurant service in Paris and carried it over to the hotel—to the consternation of many, and the delight of some.
    — Alexandra Marshall, Travel + Leisure, 10 July 2021
  • The acronym stands for bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sadism and masochism.
    — Dominique Fluker, Essence, 7 Sep. 2023
  • The film luxuriates in her suffering, not out of some sense of sadism, but out of a sense that there’s a magnificence to all big emotions, even the ones that accompany pain.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2021
  • And some of those eyes may also have seen what seems unmistakable today, an eroticized image of female bondage, a queasy mix of sympathy and sadism.
    — New York Times, 10 Mar. 2022
  • During these moments, Berger tugs at our heartstrings with a mixture of gentle warmth and understated sadism.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sadism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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