Decadentia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Characterized by a state of moral or cultural decline often marked by excessive indulgence and luxury
2. Describing a phase where there is a decline in quality or vitality, associated with hedonism or self-indulgence
3. Referring to the process of decay that can manifest in society or art, often reflecting overripe or excessive qualities

Etymology: In Late Latin, "decadentia" meant a falling away or decay, from "decadere," "to fall down," itself built from "de-" (down, away) and "cadere" (to fall). The sense was physical and neutral, as in something collapsing or wearing out. The moral charge of indulgence came much later, when the word was used of societies and manners that seemed to have lost their vigour. It reached French as "décadence," and English adopted it from there in the 1600s, keeping the general sense of decline. The hedonistic colouring took hold in the late 1800s, when French critics applied "décadent" to writers such as Verlaine and Baudelaire, and a journal called "Le Décadent" appeared in 1886. English writers took up the label with a mixture of pride and mockery, and the word has carried that suggestion of luxurious, self-indulgent decline ever since.

Synonyms: decay, decline, deterioration

Antonyms: growth, progress, development