prosaic

English

WOTD – 16 April 2009

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”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɪk

Adjective

prosaic (comparative more prosaic, superlative most prosaic)

1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.

   Antonym: poetic

   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. (main usage, usually of writing or speaking but also figurative) Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring.

   Synonyms: humdrum, dull, unimaginative; see also Thesaurus:boring

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

   She lived a prosaic life.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     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.

   • 2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juv”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     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.

Related terms

• prosaically
• prosaicness
• prose

Translations

pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose

• Armenian: արձակ (hy) (arjak)
• Bulgarian: прозаичен (bg) (prozaičen), написан в проза (napisan v proza)
• Catalan: prosaic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 散文式的 (sǎnwénshì de)

• Czech: prozaický (cs)
• Danish: prosaisk
• Finnish: proosallinen (fi), proosa- (fi)
• Georgian: პროზაული (ṗrozauli)
• German: prosaisch (de)
• Greek: πεζός (el) m (pezós)

  Ancient: πεζός (pezós)

• Hungarian: prózai (hu)
• Italian: prosastico
• Japanese: 散文的な (さんぶんてきな, sanbunteki na)
• Kazakh: прозалық (prozalyq)
• Persian: منثور (fa) (mansur)
• Polish: prozaiczny (pl)
• Portuguese: prosaico (pt)
• Russian: прозаический (ru) (prozaičeskij)
• Spanish: prosaico (es)
• Swedish: prosaisk (sv) (rare)
• Ukrainian: прозаї́чний (prozajíčnyj)
• Yiddish: פּראָזאַיִש (prozaish)

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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 就事論事的／就事论事的 (jiù shì lùn shì de), 不帶感情的／不带感情的 (bù dài gǎnqíng de)

• Czech: prozaický (cs), střízlivý
• Danish: prosaisk
• Dutch: prozaïsch (nl)
• Finnish: proosallinen (fi), arkipäiväinen (fi), ikävä (fi)
• Georgian: პროზაული (ṗrozauli)
• Greek: πεζός (el) (pezós)
• Ukrainian: прозаї́чний (prozajíčnyj)
• Yiddish: פּראָזאַיִש (prozaish)

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

• Bulgarian: прозаичен (bg) (prozaičen), безинтересен (bg) (bezinteresen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平淡的 (píngdàn de), 乏味的 (fáwèi de)

• Czech: všední (cs), jednotvárný (cs)
• Danish: prosaisk
• Dutch: prozaïsch (nl)
• Finnish: proosallinen (fi), arkipäiväinen (fi), tylsä (fi)
• German: prosaisch (de)
• Greek: κοινότοπος (el) (koinótopos), πεζός (el) (pezós), τετριμμένος (el) (tetrimménos)
• Hungarian: prózai (hu)
• Italian: prosaico (it), terra terra
• Japanese: 退屈な (たいくつな, taikutsu na), 単調な (たんちょうな, tanchō na)
• Kazakh: бірсарынды (bırsaryndy)
• Persian: بی‌روح (biruh)
• Spanish: prosaico (es)
• Swedish: prosaisk (sv)
• Ukrainian: прозаї́чний (prozajíčnyj)
• Yiddish: פּראָזאַיִש (prozaish)

Anagrams

• Caprios, ipocras, Proscia, picaros

Catalan

Adjective

prosaic (feminine prosaica, masculine plural prosaics, feminine plural prosaiques)

1. prosaic

Related terms

• prosa

Further reading

• “prosaic” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “prosaic”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “prosaic” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “prosaic” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.