Meaning & use
prose
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Meaning
noununcountable
Ordinary written or spoken language without the regular rhythm, line breaks, or rhyme of poetry.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: write in prose; contrast prose and poetry, not a prose in this main sense.
Patterns
- write in prose
- prose and poetry
- plain prose
Most novels, essays, emails, and news reports are prose.
The translation keeps the direct force of the original prose.
Her speech was careful prose rather than poetry.
Common combinations
- prose and poetry
- The exam asked students to compare prose and poetry.
- write in prose
- He learned to write in prose before trying verse.
- plain prose
- Explain the rule in plain prose.
- literary prose
- Her literary prose is clear and restrained.
Synonyms and how they differ
- text
- Text is any written material; prose names ordinary non-poetic language specifically.
- composition
- Composition can mean a piece of writing or the act of writing; prose describes its ordinary style.
Opposites
Word family
- prosaic adjective
- Ordinary or unpoetic; sometimes dull, though prose itself is neutral.
- prosaically adverb
- In an ordinary, unpoetic way.
Commonly confused: prose or pros?
prose vs pros
Pros means advantages or professional players; prose is ordinary non-poetic language.
Practice
Which is an example of prose?
Choose one answer.
A grocery list in ordinary sentences is prose because it lacks poetic meter or rhyme. A sonnet, metrical chorus, and haiku are verse or poetry.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prose”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.