prose

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noun \ˈprōz\

Definition of prose

1a : the ordinary language people use in speaking or writingb : a literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech
2 : a dull or ordinary style, quality, or condition

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Examples of prose in a Sentence

… the esteemed critic James Wood reaches out to assure “the common reader” … that his prose is as free as he can make it of what James Joyce termed “the true scholastic stink” of so much academic writing. —Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 17 Aug. 2008
Like many two-person writing teams, this one produces its share of three-legged prose and redundancy. —James McManus, New York Times Book Review, 15 Apr. 2001
In my own work I felt a need to hurry from climax as in film montage, or even in Joycean prose with its strings of firecracker words … —Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
She writes in very clear prose.

Recent Examples of prose from the Web

Born in 1934 in Westmount, Quebec, Mr. Cohen began his public career in prose, publishing several collections of poems and novels before turning to music.

— jim fusilli, WSJ, "Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)", 11 Nov. 2016
Ms. Morgan’s prose has some of that filmmaker’s elastic sense of time.

— dwight garner, New York Times, "The Sport of Kings", 17 May 2016
These early writings seem difficult to reconcile with the Harris prose that came later.

— michael s. rosenwald, Washington Post, "‘Damaged masculinity’ may help explain Columbine and other mass shootings", 20 Apr. 2016
Your primary Murray text here is the extraordinary Killing the Black Dog, first published in 1997: part prose depression memoir, part anthology of his most painful (and in some cases, least enjoyable) poems.

— james parker, The Atlantic, "The Greatest Poet Alive", 19 Apr. 2016
The prose is lean and direct; the instructions don’t just tell you what to do but explain why, what to look for, and how to make corrections.

— ralph mecke, Vogue, "Rising Star: Chad Robertson of San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery & Cafe", 11 July 2013
As his prose became stronger and his opinions less hesitant, Patterson won a Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for his editorials supporting civil rights for African-Americans and combating white demagogues in Georgia and throughout the South.

— roy peter clark, ajc, "Eugene Patterson, 89, voice on civil rights, dies", 13 Jan. 2013
Faulks is a gifted documentary writer, and London during the forties comes alive in his sturdy prose style.

— adrienne miller, Esquire, "The March '99 Shelf", 23 Jan. 2008

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prose'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of prose

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin prosa, from feminine of prorsus, prosus, straightforward, being in prose, contraction of proversus, past participle of provertere to turn forward, from pro- forward + vertere to turn — more at pro-, worth

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First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

Other Literature Terms

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

prose

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adjective \ˈprōz\

Definition of prose

1 : of, relating to, or written in prose
2 : prosaic

Origin and Etymology of prose

see ¹prose

NEW!

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

Other Literature Terms

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

prose

play

verb \ˈprōz\

Definition of prose

prosed

;

prosing

intransitive verb
1 : to write prose
2 : to write or speak in a dull or ordinary manner

Examples of prose in a Sentence

‘In the meantime,’ said Traddles, coming back to his chair; ‘and this is the end of my prosing about myself, I get on as well as I can. I don't make much, but I don't spend much … ’ —Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850