Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

purple prose

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.62 in modern English

Syllables: pur-ple prose
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Extravagant or flowery writing, especially in a literary work.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Swinburne is often a very discerning critic in spite of his penchant for purple prose."
"His persecuted characters bleed purple prose, and he persistently confuses an assault on the nerves with a cry from the heart."
"The things, you say / Your purple prose just gives you away / The things, you say / You're unbelievable"
"An antibiological bias […] was stimulated by a flood of popular and scholarly books in the 1960s and 1970s (some awash in deep purple prose) saying that male domination was natural and inevitable."

Etymology

Derived from a reference by the Roman poet Horace.

Usage

Uncountable

Phrases

purple patch

Frequently Paired Words

mandarin purple patch beige prose

Questions

What does purple prose mean?: Extravagant or flowery writing, especially in a literary work.
Where does purple prose come from?: Derived from a reference by the Roman poet Horace.

How to pronounce purple prose

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “purple prose”.
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