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

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

He reaped great commercial rewards with cutting-edge highbrow material—yet sometimes felt his audience couldn’t keep up.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 29, 2025

“What makes Goff so fascinating and relevant is his fearless attitude toward ingenuity and his ambivalence toward highbrow aesthetics and taste,” says Marco Piscitelli, curator of the exhibit.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025

Still, his research revealed a fascinating throughline: the line between highbrow and lowbrow cuisine has always been blurry, and gelatin salads are a perfect case study.

From Salon • Apr. 27, 2025

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

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Related Words

• cerebral
• scholarly