prosaism
(ˈprəʊzeɪɪz(ə)m)
[ad. F. prosaïsme, f. L. prōsa prose: see -ism.]
1. Prosaic character or style. (In quot. 1855, Dull or commonplace condition or prospect.)
| 1787 A. Seward Lett. (1811) I. 352 Ever have you found me ready to acknowledge the prosaism of many lines which you have pointed out in my most favourite poets. 1855 Fraser's Mag. LI. 700 Not a picturesque bit of building was to be seen;..nothing but the most arid prosaism. 1865 Lewes in Fortn. Rev. 1 Dec. 181 Nor could a Frenchman..feel the whole prosaism of Wordsworth's lines—‘That adequate provision should be made For all the people to be taught to read’. |
2. (with pl.) A prosaic phrase or expression.
| 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. xviii. (1882) 185 The existence of prosaisms..must..be conceded. a 1850 Wordsw. Prose Wks. (1876) II. 85 Critics, who, when they stumble upon these prosaisms, as they call them, imagine that they have made a notable discovery. 1865 Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 10 There are prosaisms and colloquial turns which every now and then remind us of the restraints. |