decadent
/ˈdɛkədənt/
decadent adjective: characterized by moral or cultural decline.
Adjective
decadent (comparative more decadent, superlative most decadent)
- Characterized by moral or cultural decline.
- 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 to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.1992, Gore Vidal, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
- Synonyms:
- corrupted, degenerate, aberrant, corrupt, depraved, lost, dirty-handed, dissolute, effete, errant
- Luxuriously self-indulgent.
- Surgery in an opera? How wonderfully decadent! And just as I was beginning to lose interest!2003, Hedonismbot in the Futurama episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"
- Synonyms:
- epicurean, sinful, Babylonian, epicureal, epicureous, epicurish, hedonic, hedonistic, intemperate, lotus-eating
Noun
decadent (plural decadents)
- A person affected by moral decay.
- L. Douglas
He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent.
- L. Douglas
decadent meaning in Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Tagalog
decadent in Hindi
- characterized by moral or cultural decline
- पतनोन्मुख patnonmukh, ह्रासोन्मुख hrāsonmukh, अपकर्षी apkarṣī, पतनोमुख patnomukh
- person affected by moral decay
- पतित patit
decadent in Malayalam
- ചീയുന്ന വസ്തു, ചീഞ്ഞ വസ്തു, ക്ഷയിക്കുന്ന, അധഃപതിക്കുന്ന
decadent in Kannada
- ಪತನದ, ಅವನತಿಯ, ಕ್ಷೀಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ, ಅಧಃಪತನದ
decadent in Tagalog
- characterized by moral or cultural decline
- namumulok
More languagesFewer languages
- decadent in Indonesian
- dekaden
- decadent in Thai
- เสื่อมโทรม sʉ̀ʉam-soom, คนเสื่อม kon-sʉ̀ʉam
Examples of decadent in a sentence
- The playboy seemed oblivious to his withering fortune as he continued in his decadent lifestyle.
- These scuffins—part scone, part muffin—are so beyond delicious, rich, and decadent they could easily be dessert.
- Oh I say, drinking champagne at eight thirty in the morning – how decadent.
Synonyms of decadent
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of decadent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more decadent |
| superlative | most decadent |
| alternative form | décadent |
| Noun | |
| plural | decadents |
Origin of decadent
From French décadent, a back-formation from décadence (see -ent), from Medieval Latin dēcadentia, from Late Latin dēcadēns, present participle of dēcadō, dēcidō (“sink, fall; perish”), from Latin dē- + cadō (“fall”).
Words formed from decadent
Questions about decadent
- What does decadent mean?
- Decadent means characterized by moral or cultural decline.
- What is decadent in Hindi?
- Decadent in Hindi is पतनोन्मुख (patnonmukh), ह्रासोन्मुख (hrāsonmukh), अपकर्षी (apkarṣī). See Decadent meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is decadent?
- Decadent can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce decadent?
- Decadent is pronounced /ˈdɛkədənt/.
Words near decadent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: decadent (page history and authors); decadent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); decadent (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-decadent.wav.
Cite this entry: “decadent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decadent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.