decadence

What it means

1. uncountableWith a negative connotation: the process of declining from a state of moral virtue, prosperity, etc., to a worse state; decay, deterioration; also, the bad state which has been reached; (countable) an instance of this.

   He sold part of the lands, evacuated the old castle, where the family lived in their decadence, as a mouse (said an old farmer) lives under a firlot.

   1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter II, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 21

   5 more examples

   This Gentleman hath ever ſince, upon all Occaſions, continually expreſſed his grateful Acknovvledgements for all this noble Patronage, vvithout vvhich he had ſuffer'd large Decadences both of Mind and Body.

   a. 1735 (date written), Roger North, The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North, Baron of Guilford, […], London: […] John Whiston, […], published 1742, →OCLC, page 304

   But it is novv thought even by the Engliſh themſelves that the race of their poets is extinct, every day produces ſome pathetic exclamation upon the decadence of taſte and genius.

   1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter XXXIX. From the Same [Lien Chi Altangi, to ***, Merchant in Amsterdam.]”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow, […]; J. Leake and W. Frederick, […]; B. Collins, […]; and A. M. Smart and Co. […], published 1762, →OCLC, page 169

   [I]t would seem that localized freezings and thawings, growths and decadences, innumerable and constantly changing, must result, and with them motion of the granules themselves and of the common mass.

   1894 December 28 (date delivered), T[homas] C[hrowder] Chamberlin, “Recent Glacial Studies in Greenland: Annual Address”, in Joseph Stanley[-]Brown, editor, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, volume 6, number XXVIII, Rochester, N.Y.: Geological Society of America, published 1895, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 212

   This is but another illustration of the old maxim, that as the speed of falling bodies increases with distance, so literary decadences increase with time.

   1898, James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, “Introductory”, in Edmund Gosse, editor, A History of Spanish Literature (Short Histories of the Literatures of the World; 5), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 6

   Chinese literature has had, of course, many changes, has had its prosperities and decadences, but it has always gone on, at least from Confucius until now.

   1901 July 20, “Books. Chinese Literature.”, in The Spectator: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Literature, and Science, volume LXXXVII, number 3,812, London: John Baker, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 93, column 2

   Synonyms: decadency

   1. uncountableartAn age or period of time when art, literature, etc., is regarded as having declined.

      In no description of this chapel have I ever seen the names and subjects accurately given: the style of art belongs to the decadence, and the taste being worse than questionable, the pervading doctrinal idea has been neglected, or never understood.

      1857, [Anna Brownell] Jameson, “Supplementary Notes”, in Legends of the Madonna as Represented in the Fine Arts. […], 2nd edition, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, →OCLC, section II, page lxxiii

      Synonyms: decadency

2. uncountableWith a positive connotation: the quality of being luxuriously enjoyable or self-indulgent, especially of food; luxuriousness, richness.

   the decadence of a five-star hotel

   1 more example

   The epitome of chocolate decadence and peppermint bliss, these holiday dream bars feature C&H® Granulated Sugar and receive an extra dose of flavor from the subtle molasses notes found in C&H® Light Brown Sugar

   2022, “Chocolate-peppermint Dream Bars [advertisement]”, in Brian Hart Hoffman, editor, Bake from Scratch: Holiday Cookies, Birmingham, Ala.: Hoffman Media, →OCLC, page 5

In a sentence

This Gentleman hath ever ſince, upon all Occaſions, continually expreſſed his grateful Acknovvledgements for all this noble Patronage, vvithout vvhich he had ſuffer'd large Decadences both of Mind and Body.

a. 1735 (date written), Roger North, The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North, Baron of Guilford, […], London: […] John Whiston, […], published 1742, →OCLC, page 304

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱad-“to fall”
2. Latin*decadens“decaying”
3. Medieval Latindecadentia“act of decaying, decay”
4. Englishdecadence

Unadapted borrowing from French décadence, from Medieval Latin decadentia (“act of decaying, decay”), from Latin *decadens (“decaying”) + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns). *Decadens is the present participle of *decadere, from dē- (prefix meaning ‘down; from, of’) + cadere (the present active infinitive of cadō (“to fall, fall out; to decay; etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- (“to fall”), possibly related to *ḱeh₂d- (“anger; hatred”)).