prosaic

adj

Etymology: 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”).

1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.

   “The tenor of Eliot's prosaic work differs greatly from that of his poetry.”

2. Straightforward; matter-of-fact; lacking the feeling or elegance of poetry.

   “I was simply making the prosaic point that we are running late.”

3. Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring.

   “His account of the incident was so prosaic that I nodded off while reading it.”

   “She lived a prosaic life.”