middlebrow

English

Etymology

middle +‎ brow, by analogy with highbrow and lowbrow. The term first appeared in Punch (1925) and was later used by Virginia Woolf (1930s) in an unsent letter to the New Statesman, published as a chapter in the book "The Death of a Moth and Other Essays" (1942).

Adjective

middlebrow (not comparable)

(pejorative) Neither highbrow or lowbrow, but somewhere in between.

Usage notes

Generally pejorative, implying pretension and vulgarity – aspiring and appropriating high culture, but not appreciating it. On occasion instead used positively.

Translations

neither highbrow or lowbrow

Chinese:
Mandarin: 中庸之辈

German: mittelmäßig (de), mäßig (de)

Noun

middlebrow (plural middlebrows)

A person or thing that is neither highbrow nor lowbrow, but in between.

Translations

person or thing neither highbrow or lowbrow

German: Durchschnittsmensch (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)

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