prosaic

WOTD - 16 April 2009    

English

Etymology

From 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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /pɹəʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/
• (US) IPA: /pɹoʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɪk

Adjective

prosaic (comparative more prosaic, superlative most prosaic)

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 of writing or speaking but also figurative) Overly plain or simple, to the point of being boring; humdrum.

   His account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.

   She lived a prosaic life.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:boring

Antonyms

• poetic

Related terms

• prosaically
• prosaicness
• prose

Translations

pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose

Czech: prozaický (cs) Danish: prosaisk (da) Finnish: proosallinen (fi), proosa- (fi) German: prosaisch (de)

Greek: πεζός (el) (pezós) m. Portuguese: prosaico (pt), prosaico (pt) Russian: прозаический (ru)

straightforward; matter-of-fact; lacking the feeling or elegance of poetry

Czech: prozaický (cs). střízlivý (cs) Danish: prosaisk (da)

Finnish: proosallinen (fi), arkipäiväinen (fi) Greek: πεζός (el) (pezós) m.

overly plain or simple, to the point of being boring; humdrum

Czech: všední (cs), jednotvárný (cs) Danish: prosaisk (da) Finnish: proosallinen (fi), arkipäiväinen (fi)

German: prosaisch (de) Greek: κοινότοπος (el) (kinótopos) m., πεζός (el) (pezós) m., τετριμμένος (el) (tetrimménos) m.

Anagrams

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