decadence

See also: décadence

English

Etymology

From French décadence, from Medieval Latin decadentia (“decay”), from *decadens (“decaying”), present participle of *decadere (“to decay”); see decay.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkədəns/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

decadence (countable and uncountable, plural decadences)

1. A state of moral or artistic decline or deterioration; decay
   • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 35:

     "Stability, however, is not enough. It leads too easily to stagnation, and thence to decadence."

2. The quality of being luxuriously self-indulgent.

   the decadence of a five-star hotel

Related terms

• decadent
• deciduous

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱh₂d-‎ (0 c, 30 e)

Translations

state of moral or artistic decline or deterioration

• Arabic: اضمحلال‎ m (iḍmiḥlāl)
• Armenian: անկումայնություն (hy) (ankumaynutʿyun), անկում (hy) (ankum)
• Bulgarian: упа́дък (bg) m (upádǎk), декаде́нтство n (dekadéntstvo)
• Catalan: decadència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腐朽 (zh) (fǔxiǔ), 墮落／堕落 (zh) (duòluò), 衰落 (zh) (shuāiluò)

• Cornish: legryas m
• Czech: dekadence f, úpadek (cs)
• Danish: dekadence c, forfald (da) n
• Finnish: dekadenssi (fi), moraalinen mädännäisyys
• French: décadence (fr) f, décadentisme (fr) m
• Georgian: დაკნინება (daḳnineba), დაქვეითება (dakveiteba), დაცემა (dacema), დეკადენტობა (deḳadenṭoba)
• German: Dekadenz (de) f
• Greek: κραιπάλη (el) f (kraipáli), κατάπτωση (el) f (katáptosi)
• Hungarian: hanyatlás (hu)
• Irish: meath m
• Italian: decadenza (it) f, decadentismo (it) m
• Japanese: デカダンス (dekadansu), 退廃 (ja) (たいはい, taihai)
• Kazakh: декаденттік (dekadenttık), декадентшілдік (dekadentşıldık)
• Korean: 데카당스 (ko) (dekadangseu), 퇴폐(頹廢) (ko) (toepye)
• Lithuanian: núosmukis m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dekadanse m

  Nynorsk: dekadanse m

• Portuguese: decadência (pt) f
• Romanian: decadență (ro) f
• Russian: декада́нс (ru) m (dɛkadáns), декаде́нтство (ru) n (dɛkadéntstvo), упа́дочничество (ru) n (upádočničestvo), упа́док (ru) m (upádok), упа́дничество (ru) n (upádničestvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: dekadencija (sh) f, dekadansa (sh) f, propadanje n

• Slovene: dekadenca f
• Spanish: decadencia (es) f
• Swedish: dekadans (sv) c
• Ukrainian: декада́нс m (dekadáns), декаде́нтство n (dekadéntstvo), занепа́дництво n (zanepádnyctvo)

Further reading

• “decadence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “decadence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.