middlebrow

American  

[mid-l-brou] / ˈmɪd lˌbraʊ /

noun

Informal.

1. a person of conventional tastes and interests in matters of culture; a moderately cultivated person.

---

middlebrow British  

/ ˈmɪdəlˌbraʊ /

noun

1. a person with conventional tastes and limited cultural appreciation

---

adjective

1. of or appealing to middlebrows

   middlebrow culture

Other Word Forms

• middlebrowism noun

Etymology

Origin of middlebrow

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

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.

From Los Angeles Times

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