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”).
- Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.
- The tenor of Eliot's prosaic work differs greatly from that of his poetry.
- (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.
- (main usage, usually of writing or speaking but also figurative) Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring; humdrum; dull; unimaginative.
- His account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.
- She lived a prosaic life.
2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juv”, in The Guardian (London):
- 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.
- See also Wikisaurus:boring