masochistic
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Deriving pleasure or sexual gratification from being abused or dominated: The primary meaning describes a psychological condition or tendency where a person experiences pleasure, often of a sexual nature, from their own pain, humiliation, or subjugation.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- His willingness to endure constant criticism from his boss seemed almost masochistic.
- The film explores the protagonist's masochistic relationship with his tormentor.
- She described a masochistic fantasy involving submission.
Advanced Usage
- Psychological/Psychiatric Context: In clinical psychology and psychiatry, "masochistic" is used to describe personality traits or paraphilias where suffering is a prerequisite for sexual arousal or emotional satisfaction.
- The therapist identified self-defeating, masochistic patterns in his patient's behavior.
- Figurative/Colloquial Use: Often used non-clinically to describe a person who seems to deliberately choose or endure unpleasant, painful, or frustrating situations.
- Staying up all night to finish the report was a masochistic decision.
- Only someone with a masochistic streak would run a marathon in this heat.
Variants and Related Words
- Masochism (n): The condition or practice of deriving pleasure from one's own pain or humiliation.
- The concept of masochism was named after the writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
- Masochist (n): A person who has masochistic tendencies.
- He joked that anyone who enjoys tax paperwork must be a masochist.
- Sadomasochistic (adj): Pertaining to or involving both sadism and masochism.
- They engaged in sadomasochistic role-play.
Synonyms
- Self-punishing: Inflicting punishment or hardship on oneself.
- Self-defeating: (Of behavior) likely to harm oneself or cause one's own failure.
Related Phrases
- Masochistic tendency: A habitual inclination toward masochistic behavior.
- The character's masochistic tendency leads him into one abusive relationship after another.
- Masochistic pleasure: Pleasure derived from one's own suffering.
- He took a kind of masochistic pleasure in listening to the harsh critique of his work.
Adjective
- deriving pleasure or sexual gratification from being abused or dominated