decadence

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/

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."

Further reading

• decadence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• decadence in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911