purple prose
Americannoun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Lee, being Lee, believes otherwise, spurred on by his discovery of pages of purple prose that Dale hid inside his Jim Thompson crime pulps.
From Salon • Sep. 23, 2025
Generally speaking, purple prose came to mean writing that is laden with flowery descriptors and/or an oppressive structure with no real payoff to a reader.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 19, 2023
“He ‘would sketch out something that was purple prose, not poetry.
From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2023
They combined inspired cultural criticism and purple prose, set down in episodic, anecdotal manner and tempered with an ironic wit.
From Washington Post • Nov. 18, 2022
I know; you write a solid slab of purple prose, scissor it into a jig-saw puzzle, serve it with a dazzle dressing and call it the New Poetry.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-02-25 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.