schadenfreude

American

[shahd-n-froi-duh] / ˈʃɑd nˌfrɔɪ də /

noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

Schadenfreude British

/ ˈʃaːdənfrɔydə /

noun

delight in another's misfortune

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of schadenfreude

1890–95; < German, equivalent to Schaden harm + Freude joy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Now, the foundations of their empire are cracking—raising questions about the once-sizzling industry’s future and transfixing Wall Street in a mix of schadenfreude and anxiety.

From The Wall Street Journal

Outside it, though, the repeated collapses turned into a bottomless source of schadenfreude.

From The Wall Street Journal

For most of Europe, there was a healthy dose of schadenfreude.

From The Wall Street Journal

On social media, the schadenfreude has verged on gleeful, with the public picking up on even the smallest references to confirm their priors and their thirst for justice is palpable.

From The Wall Street Journal

If the world was looking to extend its schadenfreude, Paltrow was all too happy to be the one to push it further.

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023