highbrow
1
7.7
A person who likes serious art, books, or ideas
- noun
- /ˈhaɪˌbraʊ/
:
intelectual
- The gallery was filled with highbrows who eagerly discussed the latest avant-garde exhibit.
- highbrows and lowbrows
Examples
-
An immitigable highbrow, Eliot was concerned about the slackening of high culture and the diminishing quality of education—concerns that have proved prophetic.
Academic text (2010) -
At the literary festival, a group of highbrows passionately debated the themes of modern poetry.
-
You know, you obviously are an aesthete, you know, with highbrow tastes.
-
A straight audience of highbrows, racketeers, celebrities, out-of-towners, lawyers, and Wall Street brokers gave the club an air of respectability.
Fiction book (2001) -
Her friends often described her as a highbrow, enjoying only documentaries and classic literature.
Antonyms
Compounds
How Cultured
highbrow
1
7.7
1
7.7
intellectual
94
6.0
94
6.0
sophisticate
5
7.7
5
7.7
layperson
14
4.9
14
4.9
lowbrow
1
8.1
1
8.1
philistine
8
9.3
- Offensive
8
9.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Highbrow originally named a person thought to have a 'high' brow ('forehead') and therefore to be smart, so today a highbrow is someone who prefers serious art, books, or ideas.