prose

1 of 4

noun

1
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
2
: a dull or ordinary style, quality, or condition

prose

2 of 4

adjective

1
: of, relating to, or written in prose
2

prose

3 of 4

verb

prosed; prosing

intransitive verb

1
: to write prose
2
: to write or speak in a dull or ordinary manner

pro se

4 of 4

adjective or adverb

: on one's own behalf : without an attorney
a pro se action
a defendant's right to proceed pro se

Examples of prose in a Sentence

Noun … 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
She writes in very clear prose. Verb '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
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
For many writers and artists, the stakes are existential: Machines threaten to replace them with cheap synthetic output, offering prose and illustrations on command. Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 29 Feb. 2024 Trillin is a diligent reporter and a subtle writer, and his prose reads as though it were both effortlessly written and carefully, painstakingly crafted. Laurie Hertzel, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2024 The book’s calculus of love and loss is brutal, and grounds the dazzling prose and light magical element. Olivia Waite, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2024 Police abuses often fell under the cudgel of his prose. Thomas R Eddlem, Orange County Register, 5 Feb. 2024 Hilton’s prose carries the twin forces of indignation and adverse experience. Simon Parkin, The New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2024 But the voiceovers also feel like lumps of prose in a film too busy navel-gazing to build narrative shape or momentum. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2024 Even then, her prose was beautiful and often poetic. Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2024 This gripping tale takes us back to Nepal in 1960, and Tom Ward’s evocative prose does a splendid job of outlining the atmosphere that gripped a world still coming to terms with the repercussions of two devastating global wars. Chris Wheatley, Longreads, 18 Jan. 2024
Adjective
The style was archaic, Elizabethan even, not prose and yet not quite poetry. Joanna Biggs, Harper's Magazine, 10 Jan. 2024 His prose choices create a friendly, highly accessible understanding of character and setting. Amy Brady, Scientific American, 14 Dec. 2023 Read the rhymes as prose or sing it as a song and enjoy the escalating silliness with each animal the monster swallows. Laura Denby, Parents, 30 Nov. 2023 And your prose style is so different from your songwriting style, in certain regards. Chris Willman, Variety, 22 Nov. 2023 As always, Barry is a prose stylist of near-miraculous skill, turning out crystalline sentence after crystalline sentence without ever leaving or betraying his protagonist’s perspective. Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2023 There was a lot of freedom; this was going to be a cinematic telling of the story as opposed to a prose journalism telling of the story. Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 12 Oct. 2023 Toggling between the perspective of a father and a daughter, fittingly, the film explores O’Connor’s preoccupations, prose, and creative process. Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2023 The book, in poetry, prose, and artwork, holds an enormous amount of wisdom, too. Nina MacLaughlin, BostonGlobe.com, 29 June 2023
Verb
Every January, students across the country craft speeches for poetry and prose contests to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. Clarence Williams, Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2024 Remember Love by Cleo Wade (Harmony: $26) Poetry and prose on enduring tough times through self-love. 8. The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2023 The implication is that the harder the squeeze, the sweeter the juice—that there’s virtue in staring down the empty page, taming it, forcing it to give way to prose. Christopher Beam, WIRED, 14 Sep. 2023 With its ability to pump out confident, humanlike prose almost instantaneously, ChatGPT is a valuable cheating tool for students who want to outsource their writing assignments. Lauren Leffer, Scientific American, 25 Aug. 2023 Director Monty Cole provides a cinematic approach to Kennedy’s latest work depicting the Black experience in 20th century America, combining monologues, voice-overs, dialogues and prose in this experimental thriller. Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2023 Bullets or prose? Robin Elledge, Forbes, 21 June 2022 Krieps plays the titular Austrian Bachmann, one of the most renowned German-language poetry and prose writers of the 20th century. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 19 Feb. 2023 Whether raising her four children, doting on her two grandchildren or chronicling in poems and prose her family's history from the time of the Civil War to today, Hill spent many years breathing life into chapter after chapter of family recollections and stories, her daughter Lesley Heil said. James Walsh, Star Tribune, 15 Feb. 2021
Adjective or adverb
As is typical for pro se lawsuits, most have been dismissed quickly. Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 20 Feb. 2024 At the trial, Southerland was representing himself pro se, which meant that during his cross-examination, Jordan had to answer questions posed by the same man who had intimidated him and lied to him as a child and who would later be convicted of murdering his mother. Seyward Darby, Longreads, 24 Jan. 2024 Victor Williams, pro se, was on the brief for amicus curiae Law Professor Victor Williams in support of appellant. Cnn.com, The Mercury News, 6 Feb. 2024 Among them are several men whose pro se petitions the 5th Circuit had ignored. Anat Rubin, ProPublica, 4 Nov. 2023 This model takes a novel approach to legal coaching, applying classical business coaching principles to business matters, departing from the traditional focus on pro se dispute resolution. Jon Stojan, USA TODAY, 24 July 2023 My background predominantly was in economic development, also assisted inmates on Rikers Island, doing their pro se litigation motions. Joe Weisenthal, Bloomberg.com, 20 Apr. 2023 Experts at the clinic taught immigrants how to represent themselves in court without a lawyer — or in legal language, pro se. Dallas News, 20 Dec. 2022 Bryant then asked the Ohio Supreme Court to take up his case in a pro se filing, without the assistance of an attorney, and the court accepted. Cory Shaffer, cleveland, 7 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prose.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun, Adjective, and Verb

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

Adjective or adverb

Latin

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective Or Adverb

1861, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of prose was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near prose

Cite this Entry

“Prose.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prose. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

prose

noun
ˈprōz
1
: the ordinary language that people use when they speak or write
2
: writing that does not have the repeating rhythm used in poetry
prose adjective

Legal Definition

pro se

adverb or adjective
ˈprō-ˈsā, -ˈsē
: on one's own behalf : without an attorney
a defendant's right to proceed pro se
a pro se action
Etymology

Adverb or adjective

Latin

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