Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Being in a state of decline or decay.
- adj. Marked by or providing unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.
- adj. Of or relating to literary Decadence.
- n. A person in a condition or process of mental or moral decay.
- n. A member of the Decadence movement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Falling away; decaying; deteriorating.
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
- adj. Characterized by moral or cultural decline.
- adj. Luxuriously self-indulgent.
- n. A person affected by moral decay.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Decaying; deteriorating.
- n. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay
- n. a person who has fallen into a decadent state (morally or artistically)
Etymologies
- French décadent, back-formation from décadence, decadence; see decadence.
Examples
“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.”
“She offers food, such as what she calls a decadent sweet roll, that's sweetened mostly with agave instead of sugar.”
“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.”
“Ignorance may be bliss when in decadent times, but will not give you the tools necessary to thrive when they go bleak.”
“Bath desserts - talk about the ultimate in decadent luxury!”
“Those sentiments were fully aired during the wide-open era we call the decadent sixties.”
“And this was in decadent liberal California (though, admittedly, the most conservative part ...)”
“Wafa used the word decadent to describe the Oriental Harmony Journey, a two-hour, four-handed rubdown offered at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan.”
“The Akons are more active and mentally healthier than the majority of Arkonides, who are in what you might call a decadent state-and the same is true of their mighty empire.”
“NAFISI: ... about eating a-- well, any -- like, for example, licking ice cream in public is sort of called decadent or unseemly for a woman.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘decadent’.
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT Catchall
brainfood for my hungry, eager pupils
iconoclast, glacial, agnostic, histrionic, treacly, contemptuous, captious, bombastic, bombast, perfidy, quiescence, sordid and 148 more...
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Words of Ill-Repute
bona roba, obloquy, bagnio, demirep, frowzy, odium, calumny, opprobrium, rogue, currish, piacular, abreact and 11 more...
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Pterodactyl's Game of Postal Abbreviations
Here's a fun little word game that might appeal to my fellow Wordies. The object of this game is to create the longest possible word, using only the official two-letter abbreviations of U.S. states...
deny, lame, mope, demand, camp, cask, hind, decamp, canvas, scalar, mental, pronks and 75 more...
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Bitty Bites
Lyricism and Lollipops, naysayers forbidden... thanks sucker:)
ephermal, acausal, intricate, seldom, braggart, vagabond, naysayer, psychocunt, iconoclastic, dibbler, smattering, precursor and 4 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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queer decadence
decadent, sybaritic, effeminate, languid, dubious, happy-go-lucky, eccentric, bizarre, rantipole, devil-may-care, slaphappy, debauched and 8 more...
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Excess
Excess
licentiousness, crapulence, vomit, mausoleum, fit to kill, libation, decadent, superfluous, louche
bilby "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. Feb 17, 2009
pterodactyl Boisterous roistering oysters? Sep 20, 2008
mollusque With the boisterous oysters? Mar 3, 2008
jennarenn I think I may have seen your scallops at a recent holiday bash, drinking it up. Mar 2, 2008
cricket Or can they? Maybe the good people at Red Lobster know something you don't know. Mar 2, 2008
pomegranate Somebody tell the good people at Red Lobster that shrimp and scallops cannot be decadent! Dec 4, 2007
chained_bear Is a dodecadent, then, 12 tridents? Nov 6, 2007
sionnach three and a third tridents Nov 6, 2007