different between commonplace vs prosaic

English

Etymology

A calque of Latin locus comm?nis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek ?????? ????? (koinòs tópos).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?ple?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?ple?s/
• Hyphenation: com?mon?place

Adjective

commonplace (comparative more commonplace, superlative most commonplace)

1. Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.

   Synonyms: routine, undistinguished, unexceptional; see also Thesaurus:hackneyed

   Antonyms: distinguished, inimitable, unique

Translations

Noun

commonplace (plural commonplaces)

1. A platitude or cliché.
2. Something that is ordinary; something commonly done or occurring.
3. A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
   • 1710, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit

     Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of common-place.

4. A commonplace book.

Translations

Verb

commonplace (third-person singular simple present commonplaces, present participle commonplacing, simple past and past participle commonplaced)

1. To make a commonplace book.
2. To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
   • 1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics

     I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the […] historians.

3. (obsolete) To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Related terms

• commonplace book

English

Etymology

From Middle French prosaïque, from Medieval Latin prosaicus (“in prose”), from Latin prosa (“prose”), from prorsus (“straightforward, in prose”), from Old Latin provorsus (“straight ahead”), from pro- (“forward”) + vorsus (“turned”), from vert? (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, to bend”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p????ze?.?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p?o??ze?.?k/
• Rhymes: -e??k

Adjective

prosaic (comparative more prosaic, superlative most prosaic)

1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.

   Antonym: poetic

2. (of writing or speaking) Straightforward; matter-of-fact; lacking the feeling or elegance of poetry.

3. (main usage, usually of writing or speaking but also figurative) Overly plain, simple or commonplace, to the point of being boring.

   Synonyms: humdrum, dull, unimaginative; see also Thesaurus:boring

   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     Their steepness and abruptness were even greater than I had imagined from hearsay, and suggested nothing in common with the prosaic objective world we know.

Related terms

• prosaically
• prosaicness
• prose

Translations

Anagrams

• Caprios, ipocras, picaros