¹prose

noun \ˈprōz\

: writing that is not poetry : ordinary writing

Full Definition of PROSE

a : the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing

b : 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

: a dull or ordinary style, quality, or condition

See prose defined for English-language learners

See prose defined for kids

Examples of PROSE

… 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
[+]more [-]hide

Origin 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

First Known Use: 14th century

Other Literature Terms

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

Rhymes with PROSE

brose, chose, close, cloze, doze, gloze, hose, nose, pose, rose, Rose

²prose

adjective \ˈprōz\

Definition of PROSE

: of, relating to, or written in prose

: prosaic

Origin of PROSE

(see ¹prose)

First Known Use: 14th century

Other Literature Terms

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

³prose

verb \ˈprōz\

prosedpros·ing

Definition of PROSE

intransitive verb

: to write prose

: to write or speak in a dull or ordinary manner

Examples of PROSE

‘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