1. people who are characterized by moral or cultural decline; those who indulge in excessive luxury or self-gratification
Usage: often used disapprovingly
2. members of a late 19th-century literary and artistic movement that emphasized aestheticism and rejected conventional morality
Usage: literary history; capitalized when referring to the specific movement

Examples

• The critic dismissed the wealthy socialites as mere decadents who had lost touch with reality.
• Many viewed the extravagant parties as gatherings of decadents wasting their inherited fortunes.
• The Decadents of the 1890s included writers like Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley.
• She wrote her thesis on the influence of French decadents on English poetry.
• The novel portrayed a society of decadents obsessed with beauty and pleasure.
• Critics accused the art movement’s followers of being decadents who rejected social responsibility.