lowbrow

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits
  2. adjective characteristic of a person who is not cultivated or does not have intellectual tastes

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

philistine, anti-intellectual

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