Prosaicity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being ordinary, unimaginative and lacking in poetic or emotional elevation, as in writing or everyday speech
2. The state of being plain, matter-of-fact and dull rather than inspired, romantic or artistically striking
3. Dullness and lack of imagination in language or manner, the opposite of poetic beauty or lyrical grace

Etymology: The contrast between prose and verse goes back to a pun on turning. Latin "versus" meant a turn, as of a plough at the end of a furrow, and verse was the "turned" line. "Prorsus" meant "straight ahead," so "prosa oratio" was speech that ran straight on without turning, and "prosa" became the Latin name for ordinary, unmetred writing. English took "prosaic" from Late Latin "prosaicus," and the sense moved from "in prose" to "unimaginative, dull." Adding the suffix "-ity," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality, gives "prosaicity," the state of being dull or matter-of-fact. The suffix is ordinary, so the word's history rests mostly on "prosaic."

Synonyms: prosaicness, banality, mundanity

Antonyms: poeticness