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decadence Definition

deca·dence (dekə dəns; also di kād'ns)

noun

a process, condition, or period of decline, as in morals, art, literature, etc.; deterioration; decay
also decadency dec′a·dency (-dən sē)

Etymology: Fr décadence, a falling away < ML decadentia < prp. of VL *decadere, to fall away < L de-, from + cadere, to fall: see case

decadence Synonyms

decadence

n.

decadence Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • art: JP: This might be viewed as the decadence of religious art from the intellectual to the sentimental.
  • time: It never has come or can come from conformity to the decadence of the times or the clinging comforts of the flesh.
  • culture: First, there is the decadence of the contemporary culture.
  • liberalism: Hence Appleyard's conclusion: ' There is a further important sign of the terminal decadence of scientific liberalism.
  • race: The decadence of the white races is clearly evident.

Converse of object

  • call: There also looks to be a nice new place that's just opened called Decadence.
  • capture: Mizoguchi's serene visual style and meticulously detailed mise-en-scene captures the moral decadence and emotional brittleness of Japan's post war society.

Adjective modifier

  • moral: And its moral decadence means a decay of conscience.
  • sexual: There was sexual decadence being advocated even by church leaders.
  • western: Now these men have all been very hot on western decadence.
  • pure: Anything over 70 percent battery power is just pure decadence.
  • spiritual: It is our belief that the cause of moral and cultural decadence is always in spiritual decadence.
  • social: Perhaps, in view of our ongoing social decadence, we have brought this upon ourselves.

Preposition: in

  • society: Inequality of this order is a mark of true decadence in a society.
decadence Quotes

The absence of the urge to create is decadence.

—Mamet, David Alan

America is the only country in history that miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to decadence without the usual interval of civilization.

—Clemenceau, Georges

My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which is condemned; Puritan decadence regards the name itself as indecent, and pretends that the object behind that name does not exist until it is named.

—Spender, Sir Stephen Harold

Browse dictionary entries near decadence

  1. decade
  2. deca-
  3. dec-
  4. dec
  5. Debye
  6. debuting
  7. debuted
  8. debutante
  9. debutant
  10. debut
  1. decadency
  2. decadent
  3. decadently
  4. decaf
  5. decaffeinated
  6. decagon
  7. decagonal
  8. decagram
  9. decahedra
  10. decahedral