sadism

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In other hands, a film of such unadorned fatalism might seem useless, an exercise in emotional sadism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

The boys and men - whom Ms Barrett calls "crimefluencers" - subscribe to a variety of ideologies, including including nihilism, sadism, Nazism and satanism.

From BBC • Oct. 28, 2025

One of the things I saw a parallel to is about trying to unlearn these toxic practices and change this culture of the sadism that we associate with these great restaurants.

From Salon • Dec. 7, 2023

If the movie “X” could be described as “Boogie Nights” meets “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” then its prequel “Pearl” feels like watching Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” develop a penchant for sadism.

From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2022

I don't know who invented the template for the standard writing workshop, but whoever it was seems to have struck the perfect balance between sadism and masochism.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris