decadent

²decadent

noun

Definition of DECADENT

1

: one of a group of late 19th century French and English writers tending toward artificial and unconventional subjects and subtilized style

2

: one that is decadent

Examples of DECADENT

1. <avant-garde artists who were scorned by the bourgeoisie as talentless decadents>
2. <a decadent who squandered her once considerable family fortune>

First Known Use of DECADENT

1886

Related to DECADENT

Synonyms: backslider, debauchee, debaucher, degenerate, deviate, libertine, perv, pervert, profligate, rake, rakehell, rip

Antonyms: ascetic

Related Words: bankrupt, delinquent, derelict, incorrigible; blackguard, cad, heel, knave, miscreant, rascal, reprobate, rogue, scoundrel, villain; lecher, playboy, playgirl, satyr

Near Antonyms: saint

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody