high-minded
Americanadjective
adjective
-
having or characterized by high moral principles
-
archaic arrogant; haughty
Synonym Usage
See noble.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of high-minded
First recorded in 1495–1505
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That dynamic may partly account for why other high-minded millennial businesses haven’t fared well.
From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026
But Squibb isn’t given to high-minded thematic talk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
It was once the job of “sleazy” tabloids to destroy lives with lurid gossip that titillated the public but lacked public interest in the high-minded sense.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
I want to be very high-minded about this.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2025
Even though I knew these high-minded arguments would get me nowhere, I tried them anyway—Martin Luther King would be ashamed!—and they made the three girls shriek with laughter as they pushed me to the ground.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
