German word, original translation loosely comes out as 'malicious joy'. In English, it's thought of 'malicious enjoyment from the suffering of another'. As there is no succinct English version of the word, English-speaking peoples have approximated this word and use it whenever they see peoplelike corrupt CEOs get dragged off to jail.
Did you see that look on Fastow's face as he was told he couldn't take soap-on-a-rope to the lockup? Man, I felt a warm, comforting sense of schadenfreude in my gut when I saw it...
The joy one feels when bad things happen to other people.
or
The act of deriving pleasure from someone else's misfortune.
Orgin = German: Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German frewida, from fr, happy).
An sense of schadenfreude came over me as I watched a Chevy Suburban with a "W" bumpersticker pull into a gas station advertising $3.89 per gallon.