de|ca´dent|ly

de|ca|dent «dih KAY duhnt, DEHK uh», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. falling off; growing worse; declining; decaying: »

a decadent nation.

2. of or like the French decadents.

–n.

1. a decadent person: »

He who sees it only from a gondola gets little more than a glimpse of the lifeless Venice of the decadents (Guido Piovene).

2. one of a group of French writers and artists, such as Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Mallarmé, of the late 1800's, whose work was characterized by great refinement of style and a tendency to glorify the abnormal and artificial qualities in life and literature. See also symbolist. (Cf. ↑symbolist)

–de|ca´dent|ly, adverb.