lowbrow

[ noun loh-brou; adjective loh-brou ]

noun

1. a person who is uninterested, uninvolved, or uneducated in intellectual activities or pursuits.

adjective

1. being a lowbrow:

   that lowbrow idiot.

2. of, relating to, or proper to a lowbrow:

   lowbrow entertainment.

lowbrow

/ ˈləʊˌbraʊ /

noun

1. a person who has uncultivated or nonintellectual tastes

adjective

1. of or characteristic of such a person

lowbrow

1. Unsophisticated, uncultured, vulgar: “My blind date took me to a mud-wrestling match. What a lowbrow evening!”

Derived Forms

• ˈlowˌbrowism, noun

Other Words From

• lowbrowism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lowbrow¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; low ¹ + brow

Example Sentences

They need to separate their critiques of Trump’s cartoonish appeals to hyper-masculinity from the right’s more foundational strategy to align itself with ‘lowbrow’ media genres and their audiences.

From Salon

And anything associated with children’s media is all kind of suctioned into this idea of being lowbrow.

From Los Angeles Times

The chairs are among many quirky personal touches they’ve added to the space — books, photography from their work at The Times, lots of junk food — that, like the show, blend a highbrow and lowbrow aesthetic.

From New York Times

Often deemed lowbrow, unserious and too commercial, a wider acceptance of magic mushrooms and ketamine among some pockets of the country also means that the art is no longer reserved for outcasts and hippies.

From Los Angeles Times

I mostly agree, but I also don’t want to create too big a “lowbrow/middlebrow” distinction.

From Salon

Related Words

• boorish
• churlish
• rude
• stupid
• vulgar