- 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.
- 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.
