decline and fall
Gradual ruin process
Decline and fall describes a gradual deterioration followed by collapse, typically of empires, civilizations, or institutions.
The phrase entered common use through Edward Gibbon's *The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* (1776–1789) and now applies to any slow unraveling of power or prestige: the decline and fall of the British Empire, the decline and fall of the American shopping mall.
- Roman EmpireAncient state from Augustus onward
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- empireDomain under unified control
- recessionProlonged economic decline
- ruinComplete destruction or collapse
decadence · bankruptcy · elegy · entropy · allegory · insolvency · hubris · decay · disintegration · slow death · corruption · dystopia · inefficiency · stagnation · going downhill · nihilism · collapse · final days
- moral decaymoral decay, moral collapse, moral bankruptcy, degeneration, degradation
decline and fallrise to power
Gaining control or authority
ascendancy · upward trajectory · accession · elevation · coronation
decline and fallflourishing
Prospering vigorously
renaissance · revival · resurgence · rejuvenation · rebirth
decline, fall, declined, declines, declining, declination, falls, fallen, falling