Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Being in a state of decline or decay.
- adjective Marked by or providing unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.
- adjective Of or relating to literary Decadence.
- noun A person in a condition or process of mental or moral decay.
- noun A member of the Decadence movement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Falling away; decaying; deteriorating.
- noun One who or that which exhibits decadence or deterioration; specifically, one whose literary or artistic work is supposed to show the marks of national or general decadence: applied especially to a certain group of French writers and artists.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One that is decadent, or deteriorating; esp., one characterized by, or exhibiting, the qualities of those who are degenerating to a lower type; -- specif. applied to a certain school of modern French writers.
- adjective Decaying; deteriorating.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Characterized by
moral orcultural decline . - adjective Luxuriously
self-indulgent . - noun A person affected by moral decay.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay
- noun a person who has fallen into a decadent state (morally or artistically)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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To his confused mind English literature was a period of degeneracy, one and indissoluble, in which certain famous writers lived, devoting what time they could snatch from the practice of what he called the decadent vices to the worship of the bottle.
American Sketches 1908 Charles Whibley 1894
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She offers food, such as what she calls a decadent sweet roll, that's sweetened mostly with agave instead of sugar.
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On top of that, the Macross can never run out of the abundant food and toys for the 60,000+ people living in decadent luxury in its cargo bay.
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross vs. Battlestar Galactica 2009
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On top of that, the Macross can never run out of the abundant food and toys for the 60,000+ people living in decadent luxury in its cargo bay.
Archive 2009-06-01 2009
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Ignorance may be bliss when in decadent times, but will not give you the tools necessary to thrive when they go bleak.
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Bath desserts - talk about the ultimate in decadent luxury!
Delectable Bath Fizzy Treats Anne-Marie 2008
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Those sentiments were fully aired during the wide-open era we call the decadent sixties.
Seriously Seeking Solutions (Male sexism: cause and cure) 2008
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And this was in decadent liberal California (though, admittedly, the most conservative part ...)
the nutshell 2005
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Wafa used the word decadent to describe the Oriental Harmony Journey, a two-hour, four-handed rubdown offered at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan.
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Wafa used the word decadent to describe the Oriental Harmony Journey, a two-hour, four-handed rubdown offered at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan.
sionnach commented on the word decadent
three and a third tridents
November 7, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word decadent
Is a dodecadent, then, 12 tridents?
November 7, 2007
pomegranate commented on the word decadent
Somebody tell the good people at Red Lobster that shrimp and scallops cannot be decadent!
December 4, 2007
cricket commented on the word decadent
Or can they? Maybe the good people at Red Lobster know something you don't know.
March 2, 2008
jennarenn commented on the word decadent
I think I may have seen your scallops at a recent holiday bash, drinking it up.
March 3, 2008
mollusque commented on the word decadent
With the boisterous oysters?
March 3, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word decadent
Boisterous roistering oysters?
September 20, 2008
bilby commented on the word decadent
"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: You liberate a city by destroying it. Words are used to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. Finally, words must be so twisted as to justify an empire that has now ceased to exist, much less make sense."
— Gore Vidal, 'Imperial America', 2004.
February 17, 2009
gulyasrobi commented on the word decadent
Daffynition: Possessing only ten teeth. (deca-dent)
June 16, 2012