decadent

Decadent is an adjective derived from Latin decadere, meaning to fall or decline. In general usage it has two principal senses. One describes a state or quality of cultural or moral decline, often with a sense of corruption or deterioration. The other characterizes luxurious self-indulgence and sensuous pleasure, sometimes associated with artifice and excess. The related noun decadence refers to the process or state of decline, or to a culture marked by such traits.

The Decadent movement, which arose in the 1880s and 1890s in France and spread to other parts of Europe and Britain, gave the term a specific literary and aesthetic context. Writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Joris-Karl Huysmans explored themes of artificiality, beauty, pessimism, and transgression, often embracing urban sophistication, ritualized decadence, and a rejection of bourgeois propriety. The movement emphasized symbolism, sensory richness, and an interest in the margins of experience, influencing literature, visual arts, design, and fashion. Although it overlapped with aestheticism, decadence carried a more provocative, ambivalent attitude toward morality and culture.

In contemporary use, decadent commonly describes foods, experiences, or aesthetics that are richly indulgent or extravagantly luxurious, such as a decadent dessert or a lavish lifestyle. It can also carry a critical note, suggesting moral or cultural decline, or be used playfully to signal opulent taste in art, architecture, or fashion. The term remains a flexible descriptor in criticism and popular culture, capable of signaling both allure and downfall.