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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
“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 appealing to middlebrows

    middlebrow culture

“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
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Derived Forms

  • ˈmiddleˌbrowism, noun
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Other Words From

  • middle·browism noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of middlebrow1

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

In a moment defined by artificial intelligence, algorithms and the almighty tax break, by middlebrow convention, shareholder protection and Silicon Valley “wisdom,” “Magnolia” now reads not as a miracle but as an impossibility.

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.

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.

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.

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