prosaic
UK /pɹəʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/ · US /pɹoʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/ adjective
- adjective Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose. “The tenor of Eliot's prosaic work differs greatly from that of his poetry.”
- adjective (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.”
- adjective (main usage, usually of writing or speaking but also figurative) Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring. “His account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.”
Synonyms
humdrum dull unimaginative banal basic mindless beat blah commonplace bland boring cold colourless corny drab stuffy dreich drowsy dull as dishwater flat matter-of-fact pedestrian prosy earthbound unglamorous unglamourous
Antonyms
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to prose; resembling prose; in the form of prose; unpoetical; writing or using prose; as, a prosaic composition.
- adjective Dull; uninteresting; commonplace; unimaginative; prosy; as, a prosaic person. Ed. Rev.
Etymology [L. prosaius, from prosa prose: cf. F,. prosaïque. See Prose.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “prosaic”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details