highbrow

American  

[hahy-brou] / ˈhaɪˌbraʊ /

noun

1. a person of superior intellectual interests and tastes.

2. a person with intellectual or cultural pretensions; intellectual snob.

3. the crestfish.

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adjective

1. Also highbrowed of, relating to, or characteristic of a highbrow.

   Synonyms:

   pseudointellectual, snobbish, bookish, cultured, scholarly, intellectual

highbrow British  

/ ˈhaɪˌbraʊ /

noun

1. a person of scholarly and erudite tastes

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adjective

1. appealing to highbrows

   highbrow literature

Other Word Forms

• highbrowism noun

Etymology

Origin of highbrow

First recorded in 1895–1900; high + brow

Example Sentences

So if “Ulysses” is what you want to be reading, then great, but don’t think that some kind of highbrow art is going to be the best for you.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026

“I mean, what is the purpose that they serve, other than speaking to other completely disconnected supposedly highbrow people that live in congested urban areas?”

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026

In 1974, he founded his own firm specializing in entertainment law, a niche many highbrow Wall Street lawyers dismissed as frivolous at the time.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026

It feels like a logical jump, then, from the highbrow fine arts to the pop star Beyoncé, whom Ms. Chan describes as “the musician as artist as artwork.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

And Volpe’s tastes, in fact, are not uniformly highbrow.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Related Words

• cerebral
• scholarly