as in vulgar
lacking in refinement or good taste
at office gatherings his lowbrow humor often embarrassed his coworkers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in philistine
a person who is chiefly interested in material comfort and is hostile or indifferent to art and culture
the town's lowbrows think that the school's music program is a complete waste of taxpayers' money
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lowbrow
Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 11 Jan. 2026
In that era, The New Yorker occupied a weirdly contradictory place in the new American nexus of highbrow and lowbrow, tradition and counterculture.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Dec. 2025
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
Perna looks to respect their time with real analysis tucked between the same lowbrow gags that won their attention in the first place.
—Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 30 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lowbrow
Adjective
His work embodies highbrow and lowbrow materials through a time in the 20th century when architecture was trending hard toward highbrow minimalism.
—Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 11 Jan. 2026
In that era, The New Yorker occupied a weirdly contradictory place in the new American nexus of highbrow and lowbrow, tradition and counterculture.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Dec. 2025
Noun
That balance of high- and lowbrow is absent in The Abandons.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
Perna looks to respect their time with real analysis tucked between the same lowbrow gags that won their attention in the first place.
—Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 30 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lowbrow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lowbrow
Adjective
-
One day, Dahlstrom made a vulgar joke in a lunchroom referencing oral sex and pubic hair, according to the employee.—
Nick Ferraro,
Twin Cities,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Doncic claimed Bitadze directed a vulgar comment about Doncic’s family in Serbian toward the Lakers star guard.—
Broderick Turner,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Right now in America, when our discourse has gotten so crass and mean-spirited that to show the underlying kindness of this show is really resonating.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
30 Mar. 2026
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The beloved slapstick comedy is 85 minutes of pure entertainment, full of increasingly chaotic adventures and shockingly crass jokes that still produce guffaws decades later.—
Rachel Simon,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Rain, April’s rude house guest, visits erratically and unannounced.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Some lawyers think a video shows a Texas judge being rude to an IT worker.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Mastectomies intended to prevent breast cancer have become more common among women with elevated risks, including genetic mutations and a family history of the disease.—
Brett Kelman,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
-
One of the most common examples involves the use of manure.—
Anthony Reardon,
Kansas City Star,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
When Feld Entertainment unveiled a new edition of the circus with much fanfare in 2023, the only animal in it was a mechanical robot dog and while there was some comedy, traditional circus clowns were not a part of it.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
5 Apr. 2026
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In Nuremberg,Göring is closer to a sad clown than to a monster.—
Alice Kaplan,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The use of childish internet and video-game memes to describe violence is coarse and unworthy of the men and women who go in harm’s way.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2026
-
My dense, coarser hair holds onto humidity like a sponge.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The business plan calls for the museum to disperse 10% of gross revenue to Naval Special Warfare families and veterans in need, and to local programs, although the size of the contribution will depend on whether the organization has to take on debt to fund the project.—
Jennifer Van Grove,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Apr. 2026
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And, by the way, Paula wants her followers to donate the first tenth of their gross income to her ministry.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
4 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Lowbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lowbrow. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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