a term used to describe literature where the writing is unnecessarily flowery. it means that the writer described the situation (or wrote the entire book, passage, etc) using words that are too extravagant for the type of text, or any text at all. basically, over-describing something. with stupid words.
normal writing:
she lay on her bed dreaming.
purple prose:
she lay upon her silken sheets in her ornately embellished robes of satin, her chest ascending and descending easily with every passing second, deep inside the caverns of her subconscious mind.
she lay on her bed dreaming.
purple prose:
she lay upon her silken sheets in her ornately embellished robes of satin, her chest ascending and descending easily with every passing second, deep inside the caverns of her subconscious mind.
by dazzlemethis August 11, 2009
Writing that is so pretentious and extravagant that it sounds like the author is full of themselves and distracts the reader from the actual story itself.
The Creepypasta "Blood Whistle" has so much purple prose that it makes it look like the author has never played a violent video game in his life.
by BATMN every day December 2, 2018
Purple prose is a type of writing in which the author uses very flowery, descriptive, and unnecessary words in the middle of mundane passages. The words (or descriptions) add nothing to the story and are typically incorporated because the author is not a very good writer to begin with and felt the need to add superfluous imagery to make up for that. "Twilight" and "Fifty Shades of Grey" are prime examples of purple prose.
"The novel is full of purple prose because the author uses a bunch of flowery and superfluous adjectives that distract the reader from the story line."
by ILoveExeter February 24, 2015