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Glite Dictionary
highlife

highlife

1 7.7
A way of living with expensive things, parties, and lots of spending
  • noun
  • /ˈhaɪˌlaɪf/
translation icon : vida de lujo
  • Living the highlife means traveling in luxury and attending exclusive social gatherings across the globe.
  • popular highlife
  • old-school highlife
  • highlife bands

Examples

  • From the 1920s through the 1960s, highlife evolved from being seen as an elite form to refracting local concerns with urbanization, economic inequality, and political upheaval (Cole 1999, Collins 1994).

    Academic text (2009)

  • I used to write satirical sketches on Manhattan highlife.

    Bright Lights, Big City (1988)

  • Economic strife was accompanied by strict curfews and taxation on musical instruments that effectively destroyed Accra's famous nightlife with its breadth of live highlife and afropop bands and dance venues.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The party was a glimpse into the highlife, with luxurious decorations and an extravagant spread of food.

  • Many celebrities gather in Ibiza to enjoy the highlife, filled with glamorous events and expensive parties.

Synonyms

high life
vshighlife
8 5.6

A life of luxury with expensive things and many pleasures

is the single word form of the same lifestyle
jet set life
vshighlife
1 7.4

A rich, glamorous life with frequent travel to fashionable places

is centered on extravagant spending and social luxury rather than travel
Cadillac lifestyle
vshighlife
  • US
7.6

A very rich, showy way of living with many expensive things

focuses more on social activities and excessive spending rather than display
life of a jet-setter
vshighlife
7.1

A lifestyle of frequent travel to fashionable foreign places, often with luxury

places greater emphasis on spending and parties than on travel

Antonyms

simplicity
10 2.7

Being plain and without decoration

frugality
8 5.8

Careful use of money and things to avoid waste

How Extravagant

highlife
1 7.7
opulence
9 7.7
luxury
322 4.2
comfort
105 1.5
frugality
8 5.8

Surface Forms

highlife singular
highlifes plural

Morphology

highlife = high + life (semi-transparent) = high + life

The components 'high' and 'life' are recognizable and suggest an elevated way of living, but the phrase functions idiomatically to mean glamorous or extravagant lifestyle rather than a literal 'high' physical life.

Etymology

The word highlife comes from joining high ('above' or 'better') and life ('way of living'), and it is like the phrase high society. So, highlife means living 'above' ordinary life with luxury, parties, and big spending.