Meanings
- uncountableExtravagant or flowery writing, especially in a literary work.
Swinburne is often a very discerning critic in spite of his penchant for purple prose.
1932, Harry T. Baker, “Hazlitt as a Shakespearean Critic”, in PMLA, volume 47, number 1, page 1983 more examples
His persecuted characters bleed purple prose, and he persistently confuses an assault on the nerves with a cry from the heart.
1960 October 24, “Book of Lamentations”, in Time, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2008, (review of The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart)The things, you say / Your purple prose just gives you away / The things, you say / You're unbelievable
1991, “Unbelievable”, in Schubert Dip, performed by EMFAn 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.
2004, Joan Huber, “Lenski Effects on Sex Stratification Theory”, in Sociological Theory, volume 22, number 2, page 261
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Derived from a reference by the Roman poet Horace.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 華麗辭藻 /华丽辞藻
- 華麗辭藻 /华丽辞藻 (huálì cízǎo)extravagant or flowery writing
Dutch bloemrijke taal
- bloemrijke taalextravagant or flowery writing
Finnish kukkaiskieli
- kukkaiskieliextravagant or flowery writing
French langage fleuri
- langage fleuriextravagant or flowery writing
German blumige Sprache
- blumige Spracheextravagant or flowery writing
Polish kwiecista proza
- kwiecista prozaextravagant or flowery writing
Portuguese verborragismo
- verborragismoextravagant or flowery writing
Cite this entry
purple prose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/purple%20prose
“purple prose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/purple%20prose. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “purple prose,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/purple%20prose.
Source: purple prose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.