Decadence is luxury and moral slackness taken together. The decadence of the court, a mood of decadence, sink into decadence.
It is a judgement rather than a description, and it is nearly always made about somebody else's pleasures. The Decadents were a real literary movement of the 1890s who took the insult as a name, which is the usual way such names are made.
1noundecadenceLuxury and moral slackness taken together.
“The film shows the decadence of the rich, with endless parties, champagne and cruelty.”
decadence is a moral state.
French decadence comes from Medieval Latin decadentia, decay, from decadere, to fall down.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱh₂d-
Medieval Latin
decadentia — decay
French
décadence
English, today
decadence
From French décadence, from Medieval Latin decadentia (“decay”), from decadens (“decaying”), present participle of decadere (“to decay”); see decay.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA