Donatien Alphonse François, Comte de, French soldier, writer, and libertine, 1740-1814. sadism - a form of perversion in which a person finds pleasure in inflicting abuse and maltreatment.sadist - one who practices sadism.sadomasochism - a form of perversion marked by enjoyment of cruelty and/or humiliation in its received or active and/or dispensed and passive form.