middlebrow

[ mid-l-brou ]

noun

, Informal.

1. a person of conventional tastes and interests in matters of culture; a moderately cultivated person.

middlebrow

/ ˈmɪdəlˌbraʊ /

noun

1. a person with conventional tastes and limited cultural appreciation

adjective

1. of or appealing to middlebrows

   middlebrow culture

Derived Forms

• ˈmiddleˌbrowism, noun

Other Words From

• middle·browism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of middlebrow¹

1920–25; middle + brow, on the model of highbrow, lowbrow

Example Sentences

Which is a shame, because sometimes a mild, witty, middlebrow comedy that isn’t trying too hard to be virtuous or subversive or timely really hits the spot.

From Time

The headline on a great 2014 profile of Trebek in the New Republic declared him the “Last King of the American Middlebrow.”

From FiveThirtyEight

Salinger retooled it, retitled it "Paula," and sold it to Stag, a middlebrow publication for men.

From The Daily Beast

And anyway, he continues, those gifts have been “thoroughly incorporated into American upper-middlebrow culture.”

From The Daily Beast

Or does middlebrow entertainment become appealing only when it has aged into a minority taste?

From The Daily Beast

In the book, his scope includes both the high- and middlebrow.

From The Daily Beast

The absurdly successful Gwyn Barry is a hilarious take on middlebrow, narcissistic celebrity authors.

From The Daily Beast