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Synonyms

lowbrow

American  
[loh-brou, loh-brou] / ˈloʊˌbraʊ, ˈloʊˈbraʊ /

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 British  
/ ˈləʊˌbraʊ /

noun

  1. a person who has uncultivated or nonintellectual tastes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. of or characteristic of such a person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lowbrow Cultural  

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

Other Word Forms

  • lowbrowism noun

Etymology

Origin of lowbrow

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

Explanation

Anything or anyone lowbrow is unsophisticated and uncultivated. Videos that become wildly popular on the internet tend to be lowbrow. Something that is lowbrow doesn’t provide much intellectual stimulation, and it may be in poor taste. Comedies that rely heavily on insults, physical gags, and jokes about bodily functions can usually be described as lowbrow. Forms of entertainment such as operas and Shakespearean plays are typically regarded as highbrow — the opposite of lowbrow. Surprisingly, they can have their fair share of lowbrow humor as well.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

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.

Highbrow or lowbrow, we have gathered here to serve humanity’s darkest impulses.

From Slate • Feb. 23, 2026

Critics might call it lowbrow, and drawing a direct connection to increased attendance is often difficult, but the social glow up is pushing the museums into the cultural conversation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025

The very name conjures images of sweltering summer picnics, soggy sandwiches and a kind of lowbrow indulgence we don’t like to admit we enjoy.

From Salon • Mar. 27, 2025

As Bucefalo, baritone Armando Contreras winningly overplayed the virtuoso farce, which was neither too lowbrow nor too highbrow.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2024

Eliminating those unfamiliar with the Stooges’ slapstick, physical, lowbrow comedy, I found that an overwhelming 8 percent of my sample admitted to such an indulgence.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

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.