Word of the day · 31 May 2026
sociopath
/ˈsəʊsiəpæθ/
noun
A nontechnical label for someone who shows persistent disregard for others’ rights and social rules, often linked in popular talk to antisocial personality patterns.
In a sentence
- The true-crime host called the fraudster a sociopath after the victims’ testimony.
- Novels lean on the sociopath as a figure without ordinary guilt.
- Experts cautioned that sociopath is not a precise courtroom label.
In an image
Origin
From socio- (society) and -path (suffering, disorder), formed in early 20th-century psychiatry beside related terms like psychopath.
History
Clinicians today more often speak of antisocial personality disorder than of sociopath as a formal diagnosis. Popular English kept sociopath for people who seem charming yet predatory, or indifferent to harm. The word is blunt and easy to misuse as an insult. Readers look it up to separate movie villains from the careful clinical language.
Nearby words
psychopath · antisocial · remorseless
A charged everyday word for cold, rule-breaking harm without remorse.