as in intellectual
much given to learning and thinking
finally, a TV series that appeals to a highbrow audience
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nerd
a person with strong intellectual interests
guests at her elegant dinner parties are a mix of the city's highbrows and captains of industry
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of highbrow
Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 18 May 2026
Since co-founding Vampire Weekend 20 years ago and producing the band’s first three albums, Rostam Batmanglij has enjoyed a unique profile as a pop songwriter and studio wizard, especially for a guy whose sound never really left his old band’s highbrow sensibilities behind.
—Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2026
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2023
Tár is its highbrow counterpart, teasing and celebrating the same personal crisis and class issues.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Jan. 2023
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
Adjective
Few actors veer so wildly between highbrow and low entertainment.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 18 May 2026
Since co-founding Vampire Weekend 20 years ago and producing the band’s first three albums, Rostam Batmanglij has enjoyed a unique profile as a pop songwriter and studio wizard, especially for a guy whose sound never really left his old band’s highbrow sensibilities behind.
—Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2026
Noun
The roll call of films ranges from the highbrow to the decidedly grungy, the menu of a true movie fanatic.
—Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2023
Tár is its highbrow counterpart, teasing and celebrating the same personal crisis and class issues.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Jan. 2023
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highbrow
Adjective
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Between 1926 and 1946, Galentz became further entrenched in Beirut’s artistic and intellectual circles at a time that was both politically fragile and saw the transformation of the city into a cosmopolitan hub.—
The Editors of ARTnews,
ARTnews.com,
12 June 2026
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That requires intentional engagement and evaluation of assumptions and maintaining intellectual curiosity instead of outsourcing thought completely.—
Kevin Brady,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
Adjective
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When Mamdani meets The Athletic, however, even more cerebral matters are at play.—
Adam Crafton,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
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This extends to the series as well, which, refreshingly, forgoes the usual guns and gore for a more wholesome, cerebral, and darkly comedic take on the genre.—
Matt Cabral,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 June 2026
Adjective
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The women had been close friends while studying for their doctorates some years earlier, but Catherine has since grown resentful of Leonora’s career, and dismissive of women whose scholarly ambitions come before marital subservience.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2026
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There has never quite been a critical or scholarly consensus about them, but Bellini, whose music is suspended somewhere between Rossini’s precise brilliance and Donizetti’s rhetorical force, can move audiences with his melodic facility.—
Arya Roshanian,
The New York Review of Books,
6 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Highbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highbrow. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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