different between decay vs decadent

English

Etymology

From Middle English decayen, dekeyen (“to decrease, diminish”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Medieval Latin *d?cadere, restored form of Latin decidere (“to fall away, fail, sink, perish”), from de (“down”) + cadere (“to fall”); compare decadent and decadence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??ke?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• (US) enPR: d?-k??, IPA^(key): /di.?ke?/

Noun

decay (countable and uncountable, plural decays)

1. The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
2. A deterioration of condition; loss of status or fortune.

Derived terms

Related terms

• deciduous

Translations

Verb

decay (third-person singular simple present decays, present participle decaying, simple past and past participle decayed)

1. (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

   The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.

   1. (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
   2. (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
   3. (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
      • 2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120:

        Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.

2. (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.

   The cat's body decayed rapidly.

3. (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.
   • 2005, Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ?ISBN, page 349:

     Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.

4. (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
5. (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
6. (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.

   The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

Translations

Further reading

• decay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• decay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Dacey

English

Alternative forms

• décadent

Etymology

From French décadent, back-formation from décadence, from Medieval Latin decadentia, from Late Latin decadens, present participle of decad? (“sink, fall”). Cognate with French décadent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?k?d?nt/

Adjective

decadent (comparative more decadent, superlative most decadent)

1. Characterized by moral or cultural decline.
   • 1992, Gore Vidal - The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

     As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.

2. Luxuriously self-indulgent.
   • 2003, Hedonismbot in the Futurama episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"

     Surgery in an opera? How wonderfully decadent! And just as I was beginning to lose interest!

Synonyms

• (luxuriously self-indulgent): sinful (colloquial)

Translations

Noun

decadent (plural decadents)

1. A person affected by moral decay.
   • L. Douglas

     He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent.

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• decanted

Catalan

Etymology

From Late Latin decadens.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /d?.k??dent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /d?.k??den/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /de.ka?dent/

Adjective

decadent (masculine and feminine plural decadents)

1. decadent

Related terms

• decadència
• decaure

Further reading

• “decadent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “decadent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “decadent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “decadent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Romanian

Etymology

From French décadent

Adjective

decadent m or n (feminine singular decadent?, masculine plural decaden?i, feminine and neuter plural decadente)

1. decadent

Declension