sadism sadism sadism may refer to: sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the suffering of others sexual sadism disorder, a medical/psychological condition for sexual arousal from inflicting pain/humiliation on unwilling, non-consenting victims look up sadism or sadistic in wiktionary, the free dictionary.