middlebrow

[ mid-l-brou ]

/ ˈmɪd lˌbraʊ /

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noun Informal.

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

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Origin of middlebrow

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

OTHER WORDS FROM middlebrow

mid·dle·brow·ism, noun

Words nearby middlebrow

middle artery of knee, Middle Atlantic States, middle-born, Middleborough, middlebreaker, middlebrow, Middleburg Heights, middlebuster, middle C, middle cardiac vein, middle cerebellar peduncle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use middlebrow in a sentence

Which is a shame, because sometimes a mild, witty, middlebrow comedy that isn’t trying too hard to be virtuous or subversive or timely really hits the spot.
Steve Martin’s Only Murders in the Building Is a Droll, Cozy Mystery for Modern Manhattan|Judy Berman|August 30, 2021|Time
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|DAILY BEAST
And anyway, he continues, those gifts have been “thoroughly incorporated into American upper-middlebrow culture.”
On the Value of Remaining Identified as a Jew, in the Absence of Faith|Mira Sucharov|October 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

In the book, his scope includes both the high- and middlebrow.
This Week’s Hot Reads: Oct. 7, 2012|Nicholas Mancusi|October 7, 2012|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for middlebrow

middlebrow

/ (ˈmɪdəlˌbraʊ) derogatory /

noun

a person with conventional tastes and limited cultural appreciation

adjective Also: middlebrowed

of or appealing to middlebrowsmiddlebrow culture

Derived forms of middlebrow

middlebrowism, 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