different between highbrow vs middlebrow

English

Etymology

A compound of the words high +? brow, first recorded usage in 1875. Referring to the (by that time discredited) science of phrenology, which suggested that a person of intelligence and sophistication would possess a higher brow-line than someone of lesser intelligence and sophistication.

Adjective

highbrow

1. (sometimes derogatory) Intellectually stimulating, highly cultured, sophisticated.

   Antonym: lowbrow

   Coordinate term: middlebrow

Translations

Noun

highbrow (plural highbrows)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A cultured or learned person or thing.

   Synonyms: intellectual, scholar

   Antonym: lowbrow

   Coordinate term: middlebrow

Translations

Further reading

• “highbrow”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• highbrow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ESC, 2003. Re:highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, The Phrase finder.
• Robert Hendrickson, 1997. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (New York: Facts on File)

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)

1. (derogatory) 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

Noun

middlebrow (plural middlebrows)

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

Translations

See also

• midcult

Further reading

• middlebrow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

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