prosaic
adjUK /pɹəʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/ · US /pɹoʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/
Etymology From Middle French prosaïque, from Medieval Latin prosaicus (“in prose”), from Latin prosa (“prose”), from prorsus (“straightforward, in prose”), from Old Latin provorsus (“straight ahead”), from pro- (“forward”) + vorsus (“turned”), from vertō (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, to bend”).
1
Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.
- The tenor of Eliot's prosaic work differs greatly from that of his poetry.
2
Of writing or speaking Straightforward; matter-of-fact; lacking the feeling or elegance of poetry.
- I was simply making the prosaic point that we are running late.
3
Usually Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring.
Of writing or speaking but also figurative
- His account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.
- She lived a prosaic life.
3 more examples
- Our people are the most prosaic in the world, but the most faithful; and with curious reverence we keep up and transmit, from generation to generation, the superstition of what we call the education of a gentleman.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
- Their steepness and abruptness were even greater than I had imagined from hearsay, and suggested nothing in common with the prosaic objective world we know.1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
- Ultimately, though, the more prosaic goals carried the greater significance in this contest. Madrid have managed only one clean sheet on their way to winning this competition.2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juve”, in The Guardian (London):
- Derived terms
- prosaicism, unprosaic
- Related terms
- prosaically, prosaicness, prose