middlebrow

[mid-l-brou]

noun Informal.

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

Origin of middlebrow

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

Related formsmid·dle·brow·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for middlebrow

Contemporary Examples of middlebrow

Salinger retooled it, retitled it "Paula," and sold it to Stag, a middlebrow publication for men.
What the Leaked J.D. Salinger Stories Reveal About the Author
Andrew Romano
November 30, 2013
Or does middlebrow entertainment become appealing only when it has aged into a minority taste?
Why All the Hate for Les Mis?
Megan McArdle
January 7, 2013
In the book, his scope includes both the high- and middlebrow.
This Week’s Hot Reads: Oct. 7, 2012
Nicholas Mancusi
October 7, 2012
The absurdly successful Gwyn Barry is a hilarious take on middlebrow, narcissistic celebrity authors.
Remedial Reader: The Essential Martin Amis
Ronald K. Fried
August 24, 2012
I'm not lauching into a middlebrow sermon here about our violence-drenched culture.
Death Imitates Art
Michael Tomasky
July 20, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for middlebrow

middlebrow

noun

a person with conventional tastes and limited cultural appreciation

adjective Also: middlebrowed

of or appealing to middlebrowsmiddlebrow culture

Derived Formsmiddlebrowism, noun

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

Word Origin and History for middlebrow

1911 (adj.), 1912 (n.), from middle + brow (cf. highbrow, lowbrow).

[T]here is an alarmingly wide chasm, I might almost say a vacuum, between the high-brow, who considers reading either as a trade or as a form of intellectual wrestling, and the low-brow, who is merely seeking for gross thrills. It is to be hoped that culture will soon be democratized through some less conventional system of education, giving rise to a new type that might be called the middle-brow, who will consider books as a source of intellectual enjoyment. ["The Nation," Jan, 25, 1912]