decadence
(ˈdɛkədəns, dɪˈkeɪdəns)
In 6–7 Sc. decadens.
[a. F. décadence (1413 in Hatzf.), ad. med.L. decadentia, Sp., Pg. decadéncia, It. decadenza ‘a declyning, a decaying’ (Florio), f. decadēre to decay, f. de- down + cadēre to fall (the Comm. Romanic repr. of L. cadĕre to fall; cf. Sp. caer, F. chéoir). The prevalent accentuation was formerly deˈcadence, perh. after decay (see the dictionaries); ˈdecadence was ‘considered more scholarly’ c 1895 (N.E.D.); it is now standard.]
The process of falling away or declining (from a prior state of excellence, vitality, prosperity, etc.); decay; impaired or deteriorated condition.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vii. 71 My triumphant stait is succumbit in decadens. 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. ii. xii. 177 Forewarning of the entire decadence of the Kingdom. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems 185 Doth in Decadens fall and slack remaine. a 1734 North Exam. ii. v. §144 (1740) 406 The Decadence of all the Good he had hoped, or could hope for, in the World. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. xl, Every day produces some pathetic exclamation upon the decadence of taste and genius. 1815 Scott Guy M. ii, The old castle, where the family lived in their decadence. 1847 Ld. Lindsay Chr Art I. 114 The eleventh century, commonly considered as marking the lowest decadence of Byzantine art. 1871 J. B. Mayor in Jrnl. Philol. III. 348 ‘Decadence’ seems to have made little way in England until the last quarter of a century, when..it came into fashion, apparently to denote decline, and connote a scientific and enlightened view of that decline on the part of the user. |
b. spec. Applied to a particular period of decline in art, literature, etc.
e.g. the Silver Age of Latin literature (chiefly a French use); in Art, the period subsequent to Raphael and Michael Angelo.
| 1852 A. Jameson Leg. Madonna Introd. (1857) 73 The style of art belongs to the decadence. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xxi. 615 The men of the decadence, not less than the men of the renaissance, were giants of learning. |
c. lit. Falling down, falling off. nonce-use.
| 1812 Sir R. Wilson Diary I. 136, I fell to the ground in the dirtiest soil that could be selected by a man in a state of decadence. 1884 Birm. Weekly Post 15 Nov. 1/4 This process is said to prevent the decadence of the hair. |