Etymology 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”).
1
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:
2
Luxuriously self-indulgent.
2003, Hedonismbot in the Futurama episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" Surgery in an opera? How wonderfully decadent! And just as I was beginning to lose interest!
Etymology 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”).
1
A person affected by moral decay.
L. Douglas He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent.