anti-intellectual 1 of 2

anti-intellectual

2 of 2

noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of anti-intellectual
Adjective
Conservative faculty are almost impossible to find at Harvard, and that absence has created a warped, often anti-intellectual, climate on campus. Samuel J. Abrams, National Review, 19 July 2025 The administration in Washington has seized on this time to advance an agenda that is decidedly anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-immigrant, and even anti-democracy. David Rosowsky, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025 This approach serves as a powerful contrast to any hollow, anti-intellectual and culturally bankrupt tyranny. Peter Nguyen, The Conversation, 30 Apr. 2025 But the Library’s decline had begun much earlier, starting with anti-intellectual purges by Ptolemy VIII that predated even the first fire. Hannah Edgar, ARTnews.com, 27 Feb. 2025 In short, the Trump administration’s populist and anti-intellectual worldview does not map cleanly onto the liberal-conservative ideological divide in the U.S. Dominik Stecuła, The Conversation, 29 Jan. 2025 Lisa develops a crush on him, fueled mainly by her realization that Bergstrom’s sensitivity and love of learning fill needs that her often brutish and anti-intellectual dad isn’t equipped to handle. Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024 Americans who hold anti-intellectual views were more resistant to vaccinating against COVID in the early days of the pandemic; more likely to believe that climate change is not human-caused; and more likely to express misperceptions about macroeconomic performance. Matt Motta, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2024 Surprisingly, his American educational background did not cost him politically during Mao Zedong’s many anti-American and anti-intellectual campaigns. David Shambaugh, Foreign Affairs, 30 Nov. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for anti-intellectual
Adjective
  • In Cherkashin, Nash Sovremennik presented a model genealogy as well as a model Pushkin scholar: a righteous, passionate, nonintellectual man of the people.
    Kathleen Parthé, The New York Review of Books, 18 Aug. 2022
  • Such thumbnail indictments of the nonintellectual masses seemed to stem from Hofstadter’s own mounting sense of political and cultural homelessness in the postwar world.
    Chris Lehmann, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2020
Adjective
  • Still, despite the glut of legal graduates, his shift in focus was an unusual move for an ambitious young man in a country where farming is seen as a job for old, uneducated or poor people.
    Carmen Abd Ali, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2025
  • The Catholic Church openly collaborated with the Ustaše, whose support came largely from young men with rural, blue-collar, uneducated backgrounds.
    Larry Luxner, Sun Sentinel, 5 May 2025
Adjective
  • Residents are far from ignorant of Michigan’s law on train blockages.
    Ayah Imran, Freep.com, 18 July 2025
  • With the current events unfolding in the U.S. (as well as the ongoing struggle for People of Color), Hightower didn’t want to be ignorant of what was happening in their country.
    Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
Adjective
  • From books to movies to, yes, even podcasts, the hosts recommend both high- and lowbrow choices.
    Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
  • While no single moment led to Housewives breaking away from lowbrow connotations to widespread acclaim, everyone can agree that RHOA played a crucial part in the evolution.
    Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Anti-intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anti-intellectual. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!