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Definition of "lowest common denominator" []

  • See least common denominator. (noun)
  • The most basic, least sophisticated level of taste, sensibility, or opinion among a group of people. (noun)
  • The group having such taste, sensibility, or opinion: "The press can resist the standard of the lowest common denominator, the rationalization that all news is fit to print that has appeared anywhere else” ( Edward M. Kennedy). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.