highbrow
Americannoun
-
a person of superior intellectual interests and tastes.
-
a person with intellectual or cultural pretensions; intellectual snob.
-
the crestfish.
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of highbrow
Explanation
Someone highbrow is highly cultured and sophisticated. You can call such a person a highbrow. Certain types of art are considered sophisticated, cultured, and respectable: like opera and classical music. Anything highbrow is usually intellectual in nature, and people who appreciate such things are also called highbrows. Highbrows usually have money and are sometimes considered snobby or hoity-toity. The opposite of highbrow is lowbrow, which refers to vulgar and less sophisticated culture and people. A book by a professor would probably be highbrow, while a book by a reality TV star is probably lowbrow.
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.
But Bill Pay was clearly not aiming for highbrow acclaim in the way Barbie aimed for the Oscars.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
If even the once all-powerful Marvel is trying to recapture viewers by positioning itself as haughty and highbrow, there is no doubt snobbery is pushing for the mainstream.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Spain, a highbrow matchup for the soccer purists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Besides the city's highbrow cultural offerings, its status as a centre of congress and diplomacy also helps attract a wealthy and worldly clientele.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
And Volpe’s tastes, in fact, are not uniformly highbrow.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
