Using "decadent" to describe a building or town in neglect or ruin

I have often seen decadent used to refer to a non-physical state, like a person who is spiritually or morally decadent. Could decadent be applied to something physical like a building or a town to describe a state of neglect and ruin? If not, what adjective could best describe this physical state?

Solution 1:

Decadent can be used that way (marked by decay or decline). However, I would not think of that definition first (and it's quite a way down on the link; seeing as the far more common meaning is having low morals and a great love of pleasure, money, etc). Therefore, I think you want decrepit or derelict or blight or dilapidated.

decrepit   adjective

old and in bad condition or poor health

or

derelict   adjective

no longer cared for or used by anyone

or

blight   noun

a deteriorated condition

or

dilapidated   adjective

in very bad condition because of age or lack of care

Solution 2:

"Decadent" does not mean "decayed". It means "in a state of moral decline". A decadent building would not be dilapidated one; it would be a building so ostentatious as to suggest that its owner lacks any sense of the value of money.

Solution 3:

I would suggest "down-at-the-heel."

down-at-the-heel: worn out from long use or neglect, dilapidated.

One place to look might be this slightly down-at-the-heel town smack in England's center.

Just a louse of a husband, who deposits her in a down-at-the-heel apartment building and then immediately abandons her.

In consonance with "decadent," consider also "decaying."

He led me all the way to the decaying town and then opened up the factory's iron gate.

Solution 4:

According to the old digital dictionaries I have available, "decadent" was associated with a state of decay. So I think it would be legitimate for you to use it the way you describe.

However since the adjective is primarily used to describe moral decay, it would be interpreted as such, regardless of how you had meant it.

So ignoring whether it is correct or not, you would probably communicate your meaning more clearly by using an alternative from the thesaurus. I rather like "decaying" or "decayed"; also "rusted", "rotten", "degraded", "dilapidated" and "disintegrated". I also like "withered" but that probably applies better to organic subjects, as it is associated with drying up and wrinkling.

Looking up the definition for "decadence" reveals that the word literally means "to fall":

$ dict decadence
...
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Decadence \De*ca"dence\, Decadency \De*ca"den*cy\, n. [LL.
     decadentia; L. de- + cadere to fall: cf. F. d['e]cadence. See
     {Decay}.]
     A falling away; decay; deterioration; declension. "The old
     castle, where the family lived in their decadence." --Sir W.
     Scott.
     [1913 Webster]

The full entry for "decadent" mentions "decay":

$ dict decadent
4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Decadent \De*ca"dent\, a.
     Decaying; deteriorating.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Decadent \De*ca"dent\, n.
     One that is decadent, or deteriorating; esp., one
     characterized by, or exhibiting, the qualities of those who
     are degenerating to a lower type; -- specif. applied to a
     certain school of modern French writers.

           The decadents and [ae]sthetes, and certain types of
           realists.                                --C. L. Dana.

           The business men of a great State allow their State to
           be represented in Congress by "decadents". --The
                                                    Century.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  decadent
      adj 1: marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay; "a
             decadent life of excessive money and no sense of
             responsibility"; "a group of effete self-professed
             intellectuals" [syn: {decadent}, {effete}]
      n 1: a person who has fallen into a decadent state (morally or
           artistically)

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  64 Moby Thesaurus words for "decadent":
     abandoned, coming apart, contaminated, corrupt, corrupted,
     cracking, crumbling, debased, debauched, decaying, declining,
     degenerate, degenerating, degenerative, degraded, depraved,
     deteriorating, disintegrating, dissipated, dissolute, draining,
     drooping, dwindling, ebbing, effete, fading, failing, falling,
     falling off, flagging, fragmenting, going to pieces, immoral,
     languishing, marcescent, morally polluted, on the wane, perverted,
     pining, polluted, profligate, regressive, reprobate, retrograde,
     retrogressive, rotten, self-indulgent, shriveling, sinking,
     sliding, slipping, slumping, steeped in iniquity, subsiding,
     tabetic, tainted, vice-corrupted, vitiated, waning, warped,
     wasting, wilting, withering, worsening