sadomasochistic

[ sey-doh-mas-uh-kis-tik, -maz-, sad-oh- ]

adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by interaction, especially sexual activity, in which one person enjoys inflicting physical or mental suffering on another person, who derives pleasure from experiencing pain:

   The artist perfectly, but controversially, captured the spirit of the underground, homoerotic, sadomasochistic scenes of the 60s and 70s in New York.

2. deriving gratification by both inflicting and receiving pain:

   You can’t win—someone’s always going to call you a sadomasochistic hater of babies for making your baby cry it out.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sadomasochistic¹

sad- ( sadism ) + -o- + masochistic ( def )

Example Sentences

Under an existing Kansas criminal law, material is harmful to minors if it involves “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse.”

From Seattle Times

Though the title refers to the number of strings in the ensemble, it also recalls Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1907 pornographic, sadomasochistic novel “The Eleven Thousand Rods.”

From New York Times

Mr. Anger appears in it as a young man who has a sadomasochistic encounter with a group of musclebound sailors, one of whom undoes his pants to reveal a Roman candle.

From New York Times

The simmering air of menace that characterizes Trump rallies is the sadomasochistic tie between Trump and his followers turned outward as hatred towards the rest of society.

From Salon

Attending a Dame Edna show thus had its own special cathartic value, rooted in the openly sadomasochistic exchange of energy between her and her audience.

From New York Times