prosaic


Also found in: Thesaurus.
Related to prosaic: abstruse

pro·sa·ic

 (prō-zā′ĭk)
adj.
1.
a. Consisting or characteristic of prose.
b. Matter-of-fact; straightforward.
2. Lacking in imagination and spirit; dull.

[Late Latin prōsaicus, from Latin prōsa, prose; see prose.]

pro·sa′i·cal·ly adv.
pro·sa′ic·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

prosaic

(prəʊˈzeɪɪk)
adj
1. lacking imagination
2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) having the characteristics of prose
[C16: from Late Latin prōsaicus, from Latin prōsa prose]
proˈsaically adv
proˈsaicness, proˈsaicalness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pro•sa•ic

(proʊˈzeɪ ɪk)

also pro•sa′i•cal,



adj.
1. commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact; unimaginative: a prosaic mind.
2. of or like prose rather than poetry.
[1650–60; < Late Latin prōsaicus. See prose, -ic]
pro•sa′i•cal•ly, adv.
pro•sa′ic•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.prosaic - not fanciful or imaginative; "local guides describe the history of various places in matter-of-fact tones"; "a prosaic and unimaginative essay"
unrhetorical - not rhetorical
2.prosaic - lacking wit or imagination; "a pedestrian movie plot"
uninteresting - arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement; "a very uninteresting account of her trip"
3.prosaic - not challengingprosaic - not challenging; dull and lacking excitement; "an unglamorous job greasing engines"
unexciting - not exciting; "an unexciting novel"; "lived an unexciting life"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

prosaic

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

prosaic

adjective
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
jednotvárnýprozaickýstřízlivývšední
prosaisk
arkipäiväinenproosaproosallinen

prosaic

[prəʊˈzeɪɪk] ADJ (= dull) → prosaico
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

prosaic

[prəʊˈzeɪɪk] adjprosaïque
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

prosaic

adj task, explanation, job, nameprosaisch; approach, messagenüchtern; life, jokealltäglich
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

prosaic

[prəʊˈzeɪɪk] adj (dull) → prosaico/a, banale
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
In speaking thus, Michel made his prosaic companions shrug their shoulders.
Surely it will be allowed that none could be more proper than the present, where we are about to introduce a considerable character on the scene; no less, indeed, than the heroine of this heroic, historical, prosaic poem.
Clare had studied the curves of those lips so many times that he could reproduce them mentally with ease: and now, as they again confronted him, clothed with colour and life, they sent an AURA over his flesh, a breeze through his nerves, which wellnigh produced a qualm; and actually produced, by some mysterious physiological process, a prosaic sneeze.
It reminded you not of Watteau, whose landscapes are so idyllic that they recall only the woodland glens seen in dreams, but of the more prosaic Jean-Baptiste Pater.
Would the painful process go on until everything became prosaic and hum-drum?
In a few minutes the contents of that letter graced the expanse usually sacred to more prosaic compositions.
Here one has conventional worldly notions and habits without instruction and without polish, surely the most prosaic form of human life; proud respectability in a gig of unfashionable build; worldliness without side-dishes.
In particular, many efforts were made to give prolonged poetical treatment to many subjects essentially prosaic, for example to systems of theological or scientific thought, or to the geography of all England.
But waking, she was able to contemplate a perfectly loveless marriage, as the thing one did actually in real life, for possibly the people who dream thus are those who do the most prosaic things.
Any one who cares to do so might test the validity of those rules in the nearest possible way, by applying them to the varied examples in this wide [6] survey of what has been actually well done in English prose, here exhibited on the side of their strictly prosaic merit--their conformity, before all other aims, to laws of a structure primarily reasonable.
We had dined together at the club, had come home in a cab and--in short, everything had been done in the most prosaic way; and why John Bartine should break in upon the natural and established order of things to make himself spectacular with a display of emotion, apparently for his own entertainment, I could nowise understand.
What is the consequence of this purely prosaic state of things?