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Bookish vs Lowbrow - What's the difference?

bookish | lowbrow |

As adjectives the difference between bookish and lowbrow

is that bookish is given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with people; learned from books while lowbrow is unsophisticated, not intended for an audience of intelligence, education or culture.

As a noun lowbrow is

someone or something of low education or culture.

bookish

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with people; learned from books.
  • * 1783 , , The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ?, page 16
    • From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. This bookish inclination at length determined my father to make me a printer, though he had already one son (James) of that profession.
  • Characterized by a method of expression generally found in books.
  • * 1996 , Helen L. Harrison, Pistoles/Paroles: Money and Language in Seventeenth-century French Comedy? , page 50
    • Obviously, neither Corneille nor the characters who laugh at excessively bookish speech avoid literary convention.

    Synonyms

    * (characterized by expression found in books) formal, labored, literary, pedantic

    Derived terms

    * bookishly * bookishness

    See also

    * nerd

    Anagrams

    *

    lowbrow

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • 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.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone or something of low education or culture.

    • 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 )