Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Consisting or characteristic of prose.
- adjective Matter-of-fact; straightforward.
- adjective Lacking in imagination and spirit; dull.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to prose; resembling prose; in the form of prose.
- Ordinary or commonplace in style or expression; uninteresting; dull; of persons, commonplace in thought; lacking imagination; literal.
- Synonyms Vapid, flat, bald, tame, humdrum, stupid.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to prose; resembling prose; in the form of prose; unpoetical; writing or using prose.
- adjective Dull; uninteresting; commonplace; unimaginative; prosy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Pertaining to or having the
characteristics ofprose . - adjective of writing or speaking
Straightforward ;matter-of-fact ;lacking thefeeling orelegance ofpoetry . - adjective
Overly plain orsimple , to the point of beingboring ;humdrum .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not challenging; dull and lacking excitement
- adjective not fanciful or imaginative
- adjective lacking wit or imagination
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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My most cordial thanks therefore for the gift which you call prosaic, and my best regards to your husband.
Letters Liszt, Franz 1893
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The prosaic is an affair of description and narration, of details accumulated and relations elaborated, It spreads as it goes like a legal document or catalogue.
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Still other manufacturers wrap their cars in prosaic disguises in an attempt to travel on public streets without tipping off the paparazzi.
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Even in prosaic settings "aggressiveness can be beneficial if it helps you pound the table and say, 'I want justice!"
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Even in prosaic settings "aggressiveness can be beneficial if it helps you pound the table and say, 'I want justice!"
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The greatest things that the world has seen have been wrought out under the eyes of us, plain prosaic men that we are.
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Poetic prose may not be the best prose, just as (to use a false antithesis) dull poetry is called prosaic; but there is no natural antagonism between prose and verse as literary mediums, provided always that the spirit that animates them be akin.
Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Hall Caine 1892
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Out of these commonplace elements, elements that one might almost call prosaic, Wagner wrought his picture of storm, with its terror, power, joyous laughter of the storm's daughters -- storm as it must have seemed to the first poets of our race.
Richard Wagner Composer of Operas John F. Runciman 1891
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In the first place, then, he had the good fortune to be born in the most prosaic of all countries -- the most prosaic, that is, in external appearance, and even in the superficial character of its inhabitants.
Hours in a Library, Volume I. (of III.) Leslie Stephen 1868
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Philippians 'renewed thought of him is likened to a tree's putting forth its buds in a gracious springtide, and may link with it the pretty fancy of an old commentator whom some people call prosaic and puritanical
Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians Chapters I to End. Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy. Alexander Maclaren 1868
zombiesam commented on the word prosaic
everyday
September 9, 2009
Azr commented on the word prosaic
'Nüchtern', 'Prosaisch' TOP 10 2)
S: Prose pertaining, Unpoetical, Dull, Flat, Simple
A: Poetical, Imaginative, Creative, Interesting, Exciting
October 25, 2013