prose

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At its best and at its worst alike his prose is the prose of a poet.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun Ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure.
  2. noun Commonplace expression or quality.
  3. noun Roman Catholic Church A hymn of irregular meter sung before the Gospel.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • Westminster Abbey has never witnessed a statelier, costlier funeral than that of “the late man who made himself to be called Protector,” to quote words from one of the most impressive passages in English prose, the opening sentences of Cowley's Discourse by way of Vision concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell . —  Andrew Marvell
  • It was his first effort in English prose, and it is doubtful whether he ever managed his mother tongue better, if indeed he ever managed it so well. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gibbon, by James Cotter Morison
  • Yes, the prose could be a little more elegant, and the plots could be a tad more logical -- but in exchange for those lacks you get an arterial infusion of Sense of Wonder. —  F ;SF; - vol 092 issue 06 - June 1997
  • It has no pictures and it has that shiny paper that I associate with text books and the prose is almost impenetrable, and you know what? —  F ;SF; - vol 102 issue 05 - May 2002
  • At the same time, there are qualities of delicacy and precision in French prose which it was good for me to appreciate, even imperfectly CHAPTER XXVIII. —  Philip Gilbert Hamerton
 

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin prōsa (ōrātiō), straightforward (discourse), feminine of prōsus, alteration of prōrsus, from prōversus, past participle of prōvertere, to turn forward : prō-, forward; see pro-1 + vertere, to turn; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English prose, from Old French prose, French prose = Spanish Portuguese Italian prosa = Dutch proza = Old High German prōsa, Middle High German prōse, German prosa = Icelandic prōsa = Swedish Danish prosa, from Latin prosa, prose, short for prosa oratio, straightforward or direct speech (i. e. without transpositions or ornamental variations as in verse): prosa, feminine of prosus, contr. of prorsus, straightforward, direct, contr. of *proversus, from pro, forth, + versus, turned, past participle of vertere, turn (later versus (versu-), a turning, a line, verse): see verse. The element vers- is thus contained, though in different applications, in both verse and prose. Cf. Greek πεζο\ς λόγος or πεζη\ λέξις, Latin pedestris oratio, prose, literally ‘speech afoot’ (not ‘mounted’ or elevated).
  2. from Middle English prosen; from prose, n.
 

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/proʊz/
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