different between slapstick vs lowbrow

English

Alternative forms

• slap-stick

Etymology

slap +? stick, calque of Italian batacchio. The pair of sticks was used by the comic character Harlequin in the commedia dell'arte.

Noun

slapstick (countable and uncountable, plural slapsticks)

2. (uncountable) A style of humor focusing on physical comedy, such as slipping on a banana peel, and with foolish characters who get into humiliating situations.
3. (countable) A pair of sticks attached at one end and used to create a slapping sound effect, used especially in slapstick comedy; a type of clapper.

Synonyms

• physical comedy

Derived terms

• slapsticker
• slapstickery

Translations

Anagrams

• plasticks

Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English slapstick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?slæpstik/, [?s?læps?t?ik]
• Syllabification: slap?stick

Noun

slapstick

1. slapstick (physical comedy)

Declension

Compounds

• slapstickelokuva
• slapstickkomedia

Spanish

Noun

slapstick m (uncountable)

1. slapstick

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): /?lo?b?a?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l??b?a?/

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

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

References

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