high-minded

[hahy-mahyn-did]

adjective

1. having or showing high, exalted principles or feelings.

   Synonyms: scrupulous, idealistic, ethical, fair, honest, principled

high-minded

adjective

1. having or characterized by high moral principles

2. archaic,  arrogant; haughty

Other Word Forms

• high-mindedly adverb
• high-mindedness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of high-minded¹

First recorded in 1495–1505

Synonym Study

See noble.

Example Sentences

While the work of their Attic cousins is celebrated for being high-minded and idealistic—all those ripped bodies, gods and goddesses—theirs, with its focus on everyday individuals and events, can be seen as prosaic.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Democrats show no such concern, in part because they have honed the art of casting nakedly political prosecutions as high-minded civic virtue, clapped on by media and institutional elites.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Any other presidential decision would have been criminal: That is basic democratic morality, notwithstanding unceasing criticism from the high-minded.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It threatens to drown out their own more high-minded projects.

Read more on BBC

It’s difficult to imagine a worse addition to this oil-and-water mix of high-minded nonconformist cranks and hard-toiling middle-class settlers than a capitalist sybarite.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• honest 
• noble 
• virtuous