lowbrow

[loh-brou, 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!”

Other Word Forms

• lowbrowism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lowbrow¹

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

Example Sentences

Still, his research revealed a fascinating throughline: the line between highbrow and lowbrow cuisine has always been blurry, and gelatin salads are a perfect case study.

From Salon

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

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

To go and see the theater one day, and then go to a Disney park, one is highbrow and one is lowbrow and that’s elitist.

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

Related Words

• barbarous 
• brutal 
• cruel 
• inhuman 
• uncivilized