prosaic

pro·sa·ic

adj \prō-ˈzā-ik\

Definition of PROSAIC

1

a : characteristic of prose as distinguished from poetry : factual b : dull, unimaginative <prosaic advice>

2

: everyday, ordinary <heroic characters wasted in prosaic lives — Kirkus Reviews>

— pro·sa·i·cal·ly \-ˈzā-ə-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Examples of PROSAIC

1. He has a prosaic writing style.
2. the prosaic life of a hardworking farmer
3. She believes the noises are made by ghosts, but I think there's a more prosaic explanation.
4. For the most part, the descriptions of the books listed in the “Catalog,” though informative, are relentlessly prosaic, even hackneyed. —Mordecai Richler, New York Times Book Review, 8 Oct. 1989
5. In addition to the prosaic essentials of life—wheat, rice, and salt—the Portuguese found exotic stores of pepper, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and other spices. —Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers, 1983
6. There is, of course, an ordinary medicine, an everyday medicine, humdrum, prosaic, a medicine for stubbed toes, quinsies, bunions, and boils … —Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, 1973
7. … where did he get his money? He had to eat and drink, buy apparatus and chemicals, even pay the poor rate. Where did he get the common coin to meet such unavoidable if prosaic obligations? —Flann O'Brien, The Dalkey Archive, 1964

Origin of PROSAIC

Late Latin prosaicus, from Latin prosa prose

First Known Use: circa 1656

Related to PROSAIC

Synonyms: average, common, commonplace, cut-and-dried (also cut-and-dry), everyday, garden-variety, normal, ordinary, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard-issue, unexceptional, unremarkable, usual, workaday

Antonyms: abnormal, exceptional, extraordinary, odd, out-of-the-way, strange, unusual

Related Words: regular, typical, unextraordinary; familiar, homely, plain, plain-Jane, popular, vulgar; natural; customary, wonted; insignificant, trivial, unimportant; frequent, habitual; expected, predictable

Near Antonyms: curious, funny, peculiar, quaint, queer; aberrant, anomalous, atypical, irregular, untypical; rare, recherché, scarce; fantastic (also fantastical), phenomenal; bizarre, far-out, Kafkaesque, outrageous, outré, wacky (also whacky), way-out, weird, wild; eccentric, idiosyncratic, kooky (also kookie), nonconformist, oddball, offbeat, unconventional, unorthodox; freak, freakish; conspicuous, notable, novel, outstanding, prominent, salient, signal, striking, unexampled, unprecedented; singular, unique, unparalleled

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Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

Rhymes with PROSAIC

alcaic, Altaic, archaic, Chaldaic, deltaic, Hebraic, Incaic, Judaic, Mishnaic, Mithraic, mosaic, Mosaic, Passaic, Romaic, spondaic, stanzaic, trochaic, voltaic