as in intellectual
much given to learning and thinking
finally, a TV series that appeals to a highbrow audience
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nerd
a person with strong intellectual interests
guests at her elegant dinner parties are a mix of the city's highbrows and captains of industry
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of highbrow
Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 16 July 2021
Tár is its highbrow counterpart, teasing and celebrating the same personal crisis and class issues.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Jan. 2023
But in the pandemic’s wake, the chief human resources officer has morphed into a highbrow position, working with CEOs to drive attraction and retention among a myriad of other talent operations.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2023
Margot Robbie, playing Barbie, is clad in an exact re-creation of the original Barbie’s outfit; Gerwig is clearly thinking about the interplay between highbrow and lowbrow, between art and commercialism.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
Noun
Just dumb enough to work, the haunted-house plot barrels through clichés and comes out the other side with an earnestly lowbrow evisceration of the fake highbrow.
—Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 16 July 2021
Tár is its highbrow counterpart, teasing and celebrating the same personal crisis and class issues.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Jan. 2023
But in the pandemic’s wake, the chief human resources officer has morphed into a highbrow position, working with CEOs to drive attraction and retention among a myriad of other talent operations.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2023
Margot Robbie, playing Barbie, is clad in an exact re-creation of the original Barbie’s outfit; Gerwig is clearly thinking about the interplay between highbrow and lowbrow, between art and commercialism.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highbrow
Adjective
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Many companies unknowingly create environments that discourage intellectual exploration, leading employees to disengage from problem-solving and creative thinking.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes,
8 Mar. 2025
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McKinley displayed plenty of intellectual flexibility, manifested not just in his Hawaii and Cuba maneuverings but also in his willingness to alter his longtime advocacy of high protective tariffs and craft a new policy more in keeping with a changing world.—
Robert W. Merry,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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If Santo Stefano is cerebral, Santa Sabina is ethereal — as iridescent as a soap bubble but as solid as stone.—
The New York Times,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 Mar. 2025
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The folding of cerebral tissue is one of the brain’s most distinctive features.—
Tom Hawking,
Popular Science,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The firm also is known for its academic research and scholarly publications.—
Anthony DeMarco,
Forbes,
5 Mar. 2025
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All this has left many faculty members feeling beside the point, especially in pursuits like chemistry, classics, English, government, or law—five scholarly fields that together produced every Harvard president of the twentieth century.—
Nathan Heller,
The New Yorker,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Highbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highbrow. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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