A wasting away or decay; the process of gradually deteriorating or declining (medical or literary term).
From Latin contabescere (to waste away), from con- (intensive) + tabescere (to waste). The -ence suffix forms abstract nouns from Latin verbs describing states or conditions.
Contabescence sounds like medical jargon from a Victorian disease manual, and that's exactly what it is—a poetic, scientific way to describe slow wasting away that doctors preferred to 'dying'!
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