Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

middlebrow

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.79 in modern English

Syllables
mid-dle-brow
IPA
19
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Neither highbrow or lowbrow, but somewhere in between.

Derogatory

noun

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

Example Sentences

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).

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Questions

What does middlebrow mean?
Neither highbrow or lowbrow, but somewhere in between.
Where does middlebrow come from?
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).

How to pronounce middlebrow

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “middlebrow”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “middlebrow”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “middlebrow” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.