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

This framing device, which has the clunky air of a middlebrow play, provides a convenient if stagy way of breaking down his biography into manageable parts.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Salon

Rooted in a sensibility defiantly opposed to middlebrow sameness, the paper broadened its scope from a specific urban locale to an ethos no longer confined to a set of quizzically arranged blocks below 14th Street.

From Los Angeles Times

We learn that Babbitt, citizen of Zenith, “a mid-size, middlebrow city in the middle of America,” is not fat but extremely well fed, with a baby face marked by wrinkles.

From Los Angeles Times

Like its competitor, House Beautiful, House & Garden was then a middlebrow publication devoted to recipes, D.I.Y. decorating and handicrafts.

From New York Times