sadistic desires; sadistic feelings
Refers to the psychological tendency to derive pleasure from another's suffering. Often used in discussions of personality, dark psychology, or fictional character analysis.
His sadistic desires lie behind those cruel actions.
People who cannot control their sadistic feelings end up hurting those around them.
Compound of 嗜 (し, 'to have a taste for, to be fond of'), 虐 (ぎゃく, 'oppress, torment'), and 心 (しん, 'heart, mind'). The word is a modern coinage based on Sino-Japanese morphemes, likely influenced by Western psychological concepts of sadism.