middlebrow

== English == === Alternative forms === middle-brow, middle brow === Etymology === From 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) (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. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === middlebrow (plural middlebrows) A person or thing that is neither highbrow nor lowbrow, but in between. ==== Translations ==== === See also === midcult midwit no-brow === References === ESC, 2003. Re:highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, The Phrase finder. Robert Hendrickson, 1997. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (New York: Facts on File) === Further reading === middlebrow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia