lowbrow

adj
/ˈloʊbɹaʊ/US/ˈləʊbɹaʊ/UK

Etymology

A bahuvrihi compound of low + brow. An Americanism whose first use appears c. 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.

  1. inherited from *h₃bʰrúHs — “brow
  2. inherited from *brūwō
  3. inherited from *brāwu
  4. inherited from brū
  5. inherited from browe
  6. compounded as lowbrow — “low + brow

Definitions

  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.
  2. Someone or something of low education or culture.

  3. An underground populist visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles area in the…

    An underground populist visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s, inspired by comics, punk music, graffiti, etc.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for lowbrow. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA