prosy

prosy

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

    From prose + -y.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɹəʊzi/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: (UK) -əʊzi

    Adjective

    prosy (comparative prosier, superlative prosiest)

    1. (of speech or writing) Unpoetic; dull and unimaginative.
    2. (of a person) Behaving in a dull way; boring, tedious.
      • 1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra:
        CHARMIAN. He makes you so terribly prosy and serious and learned and philosophical. It is worse than being religious, at our ages.
      • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt [], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
        "Well, well, we all get a bit prosy sometimes," said Lord John.
      • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.19:
        I cannot imagine his pupil regarding him as anything but a prosy old pedant, set over him by his father to keep him out of mischief.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Anagrams

    Czech

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈprosɪ]

    Noun

    prosy

    1. instrumental plural of proso