Schadenfreude definition is - enjoyment obtained from the misfortune of others. A hilarious quest to understand life's ultimate guilty pleasure - in a beautiful gift package. Schadenfreude, or “harm-joy,” is the pleasure we feel in other people's failures, join. Schadenfreude is a German term that describes the complicated joy people sometimes get from someone else's misfortune? A new article offers a potential explanation as to why we take pleasure in the face of someone else's misfortune.