Meaning
堕落 describes a process of moral, spiritual, or social decline, where someone or something deteriorates from a higher or better state into corruption, vice, or degradation. It carries strong negative connotations and is often used to describe people losing their integrity, societies declining, or abandoning positive values for negative behaviors.
Usage
This is a formal, somewhat literary term used in moral, philosophical, or social commentary contexts. It commonly appears in written Chinese, news articles discussing social problems, or when making serious judgments about character decline. Native speakers use it when describing someone who has strayed from proper values or fallen into bad habits like addiction, crime, or moral corruption.
Examples
- 01他因为交了坏朋友而逐渐堕落，最后走上了犯罪的道路。, .He gradually degenerated because he made bad friends, and eventually went down the path of crime.
- 02我们不能让青少年受到不良文化的影响而堕落。.We cannot let young people be influenced by harmful culture and become morally corrupt.
Characters
Common collocations
- 道德堕落moral degeneration
- 精神堕落spiritual decay
- 堕落成to degenerate into
- 防止堕落to prevent moral decay
Antonyms
Origin
Both characters relate to falling or dropping, creating a compound that emphasizes the downward movement from a higher moral or social position to a lower, degraded state.