lowbrow

See also: low-brow

English

Alternative forms

• low-brow

Etymology

A bahuvrihi compound of low +‎ brow, Americanism, circa 1902. Refers to the (by that time discredited) pseudoscience of phrenology, which suggested that a person of low intelligence and sophistication would possess a lower brow-line than someone of greater intelligence and sophistication.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊbɹaʊ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊbɹaʊ/

Adjective

lowbrow (comparative more lowbrow, superlative most lowbrow)

1. Unsophisticated, not intended for an audience of intelligence, education or culture.

   The Three Stooges are known for their lowbrow slapstick humor consisting of foolish action for the masses.

Translations

unsophisticated

• Azerbaijani: səviyyəsiz
• Finnish: matalaotsainen, luiskaotsainen
• French: bas de plafond (fr)
• German: niveaulos (de), ungebildet (de), banausisch (de)
• Russian: низкопро́бный (ru) (nizkopróbnyj), низкосо́ртный (ru) (nizkosórtnyj), по́шлый (ru) (póšlyj)

Noun

lowbrow (countable and uncountable, plural lowbrows)

1. (countable) Someone or something of low education or culture.
2. (uncountable, art) An underground populist visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s, inspired by comics, punk music, graffiti, etc.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:idiot

Antonyms

• highbrow

Related terms

• highbrow
• middlebrow
• no-brow

Translations

Someone of low culture

• German: Kulturbanause (de) m

References

• ESC, 2003. Re:highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, The Phrase finder.
• Robert Hendrickson, 1997. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (New York: Facts on File)