prose

(prōz)

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

1. To write prose.
2. To speak or write in a dull, tiresome style.

[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.]

View more Literature & Language videos

For more information on prose, visit Britannica.com.

Definition: literature
Antonyms: poem, poetry

prose, the form of written language that is not organized according to the formal patterns of verse; although it will have some sort of rhythm and some devices of repetition and balance, these are not governed by a regularly sustained formal arrangement, the significant unit being the sentence rather than the line. Some uses of the term include spoken language as well, but it is usually more helpful to maintain a distinction at least between written prose and everyday speech, if not formal oratory. Prose has as its minimum requirement some degree of continuous coherence beyond that of a mere list. The adjectives prosaic and prosy have a derogatory meaning of dullness and ordinarinesss; the neutral adjective is simply ‘prose’, as in ‘prose writings’.

prose 1. Greek. Prose as a means of literary expression was developed in Greece as in other countries long after poetry. In early times when writing was in its infancy and literary compositions survived by being committed to memory, those written in metrical form were easier to memorize (in Greece, writing was reintroduced at the end of the eighth century; see ALPHABET). The earliest writers of Greek prose appear to have been the chroniclers (see LOGOGRAPHERS (1)) and philosophers (see PHILOSOPHY) of Ionia in the sixth century BC. From this time onward the development of prose was rapid. Heracleitus in about 500 BC was already writing prose of subtlety and style. By the middle of the fifth century BC a technical prose had been developed which was adequate to express all that was needed for a scientific or philosophical treatise. Democritus (c.460–c.357 BC), to judge from his fragments, was a competent prose writer, and the earliest works in the Hippocratic Corpus (see HIPPOCRATES) show at least the capacity for accurate and concise statement.

The first fully developed prose work that has survived in its entirety is the history of Herodotus (c.490–c.425 BC). Attic prose reached its height in the dialogues of Plato (c.429–347 BC) and the speeches of Demosthenes (384–322 BC). The sophist Gorgias (c.483–c.385) developed a very mannered oratorical style which did not have a long-lasting influence. Isocrates (436–338) on the other hand exercised through his school a deep influence on later Greek prose, in the direction of greater elaboration and ornament. With the end of the fourth century BC came the close of the classical period of Attic literature, the dialect of Athens then giving place to a common Greek dialect, the koinē (see DIALECTS), less subtle, varied, and accurate in expression. Greek prose was influenced by ‘Asianism’ (see ORATORY 1), the florid style favoured by the rhetoricians of the third century BC. There was an energetic reaction against this, and an Attic revival, at Rome in the Augustan age; of this Dionysius of Halicarnassus is the best example. In the second century AD Lucian wrote in a very good imitation of classical Attic prose. See also NOVEL and SOPHISTIC, SECOND.

2. Latin. Latin prose was developed, in its characteristic features, out of public speech, though it originated partly in the Annales of the pontiffs (their records of traditional ritual and events of religious importance) which were the origin of written history at Rome. Roman law, published and often learnt by heart, was also a formative influence. Latin prose, unlike Latin poetry, owed little to Greek influences, for it already possessed, before the advent of these, the essential qualities of clarity, precision, and conciseness. In a community like Rome where politics played so great a part, these qualities were naturally esteemed in oratory. We hear of Appius Claudius Caecus and Cato the Censor as noted speakers; and oratory was further developed, with a great variety of appeal, by Gaius Gracchus. Latin prose reached its highest point in the speeches and writings of Cicero. Thereafter it tended to become artificial, epigrammatic, and poetical, under the influence of the poets and of the prevailing education in rhetoric and through the practice of declamation (see DECLAMATIONES). Seneca's prose is typically epigrammatic; that of Tacitus is marked by its excessive compactness and its poeticisms. The Younger Pliny also shows the influence of the rhetorical schools. Quintilian opposed the artificiality of his day and wrote in a style free from conceits and studied effects; but although a professed follower of Cicero he did not recapture the amplitude and symmetry of Cicero's prose.

Ordinary language people use in speaking or writing, distinguished from the language of poetry primarily in that the line is not treated as a formal unit and it has no repetitive pattern of rhythm or meter.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

• Schools, Styles, and Forms - prose: unrhymed, nonmetrical writing

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - prosa
v. intr. - skrive, udbrede sig

idioms:

• prose idyll    prosaisk idyl

Nederlands (Dutch)
proza, spreektaal, alledaagsheid, alledaagse stijl, proza schrijven

Français (French)
n. - prose, (GB, École, Univ) thème
v. intr. - faire de la prose

idioms:

• prose idyll    idylle

Deutsch (German)
n. - Prosa
v. - in Prosa umwandeln

idioms:

• prose idyll    Idylle in Prosa

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πεζογραφία, πρόζα, πεζός λόγος
v. - γράφω, εκφράζομαι σε πεζό λόγο, γράφω, μιλώ με πεζό, ανιαρό τρόπο
adj. - πεζογραφία, πρόζα, πεζός λόγος

idioms:

• prose idyll    ειδυλλιακή περιγραφή

Italiano (Italian)
prosa, scrivere in prosa, prosaico

idioms:

• prose idyll    idillio in prosa

Português (Portuguese)
n. - prosa (f)
v. - escrever em prosa
adj. - prosa

idioms:

• prose idyll    idílio prosaico

Русский (Russian)
проза, прозаический, писать прозу

idioms:

• prose idyll    идиллия в прозе

Español (Spanish)
n. - prosa, prosaísmo, en prosa, prosaico
v. intr. - poner en prosa, gastar mucha prosa

idioms:

• prose idyll    descripción breve en prosa

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - prosa, sakligt språk
v. - skriva på prosa, tala (skriva) torrt o tråkigt
adj. - andefattig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
散文, 写散文, 乏味地讲话

idioms:

• prose idyll    描写田园生活的诗或散文

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 散文
v. intr. - 寫散文, 乏味地講話

idioms:

• prose idyll    描寫田園生活的詩或散文

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 산문, 평범
v. intr. - 산문으로 쓰다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 散文, 散文体, 平凡, 単調
adj. - 散文の, 平凡な
v. - 散文を書く

idioms:

• prose idyll    田園文学

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كتابه نثر (فعل) كتب نثرا, تحدث بطريقه ممله (صفه) نثري‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סיפורת, פרוזה‬
v. intr. - ‮ייגע/שעמם בדבריו‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.