sadist

On Wednesday, chief prosecutor Ute Lindemann described Brückner as a "dangerous, psychopathic sadist" and said he should be placed in preventive detention after serving his sentence.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2024

Fromm covers much of this ground again, analyzing Heinrich Himmler and Josef Stalin as case studies of the sadist driven by the need to dominate.

From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2024

Santoro’s complex performance is key to this transition: Our perception of him changes from a one-dimensional sadist to a product of his environment, a man who does what he must to climb the social ladder.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2021

In his sweeping 1965 novel “Dune,” Herbert introduced one for the ages: a corpulent, power-hungry sadist with the suitably sinister name of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2021

So where does he get off to call me a public avenger and a sadist and everything?

From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose

An overwhelming handful, this early history play retains its popularity largely through the audacious villainy of its title character, one of Shakespeare’s most flamboyant sadists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026

Maybe we should just stop trying to define someone’s interests from afar, and labeling them as sadists when they make a choice that we find incomprehensible.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2024

What I have noticed is that all of these lifting, pulling, pushing, stretching and bending exercises were designed by sadists.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2019

“One imagines a furtive audience of sad saps and sadists, trench-coated lurkers and wan shut-ins.”

From The Guardian ● Mar. 17, 2019

The most pronounced childish egotists may become the most helpful and self-sacrificing citizens; the majority of idealists, humanitarians, and protectors of animals have developed from little sadists and animal tormentors.

From Reflections on War and Death by Sigmund Freud