prosaic
Significado: Lacking poetic beauty or imaginative quality; dull, mundane, and unromantic. Used to describe things that are disappointingly ordinary or commonplace.
Prosaic literally means 'resembling prose rather than poetry,' and from this technical distinction it developed its figurative sense of dreary ordinariness. It is a favourite word of literary critics and cultural commentators when dismissing something as pedestrian or uninspired. The word carries a note of deflation — the prosaic explanation for a mystery is the anticlimactic one. It collocates with 'reality,' 'truth,' 'explanation,' and 'details,' and is often deployed in contrast with something elevated or romantic.
Ejemplos
- The prosaic reality of life as a junior barrister bore little resemblance to the glamour depicted in television dramas. 作为初级大律师的平淡现实与电视剧中描绘的光鲜形象几乎毫无相似之处。La prosaica realidad de la vida como abogado novato guardaba poca semejanza con el glamur representado en las series de televisión.ジュニア法廷弁護士としての平凡な現実は、テレビドラマに描かれる華やかさとはほとんど似ても似つかなかった。수습 법정 변호사로서의 평범한 현실은 텔레비전 드라마에 묘사된 화려함과는 거의 닮은 구석이 없었다.
- Behind the grand rhetoric of the manifesto lay a set of prosaic policy commitments that would change very little. 在宣言的宏大辞藻背后,是一系列平淡的政策承诺,几乎不会改变什么。Tras la grandilocuente retórica del manifiesto se escondía un conjunto de compromisos políticos prosaicos que apenas cambiarían nada.マニフェストの壮大なレトリックの裏には、ほとんど何も変えないであろう平凡な政策公約が並んでいた。선언문의 장대한 수사 이면에는 거의 아무것도 바꾸지 못할 평범한 정책 공약들이 놓여 있었다.
- The investigation concluded with a prosaic explanation: the fire had been caused by a faulty electrical socket, not arson. 调查以一个平淡无奇的结论收场:火灾是由故障的电源插座引起的,而非纵火。La investigación concluyó con una explicación prosaica: el incendio había sido causado por un enchufe defectuoso, no por un acto de piromanía.調査は平凡な結論に終わった——火事の原因は放火ではなく、故障した電源コンセントだった。조사는 평범한 결론에 이르렀다—화재의 원인은 방화가 아니라 고장 난 전기 콘센트였다.
Pronunciación
Guía de uso
Contexto: literary, journalism
Tono: neutral
Origen e historia
From late Latin prosaicus, from Latin prosa (prose), itself a contraction of prosa oratio (straightforward speech). The figurative sense of 'dull' emerged in English by the early 18th century.
Contexto cultural
Era: Modern
Generation: All ages
Social background: Universal
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