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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Recent Examples of highbrow
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
But in the pandemic’s wake, the chief human resources officer has morphed into a highbrow position, working with CEOs to drive attraction and retention among a myriad of other talent operations.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2023
Margot Robbie, playing Barbie, is clad in an exact re-creation of the original Barbie’s outfit; Gerwig is clearly thinking about the interplay between highbrow and lowbrow, between art and commercialism.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
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
But in the pandemic’s wake, the chief human resources officer has morphed into a highbrow position, working with CEOs to drive attraction and retention among a myriad of other talent operations.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2023
Margot Robbie, playing Barbie, is clad in an exact re-creation of the original Barbie’s outfit; Gerwig is clearly thinking about the interplay between highbrow and lowbrow, between art and commercialism.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for highbrow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highbrow
Adjective
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Secretary Rubio is constructing a Department of State where groupthink is out and intellectual rigor is in; where DEI is replaced with merit; and where training focuses on winning in a tough world.—
Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Aug. 2025
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Before Heritage, most think tanks were structured either as contractors such as the RAND Corp., providing policy analysis at the request of the federal government, or universities without students, where individual scholars pursued their own intellectual priorities.—
E.J. Fagan,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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This bodily dissonance is another way Alien: Earth remixes a core franchise theme, but the exercise remains largely cerebral.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
12 Aug. 2025
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The cerebral way in which Schulewitz approached pitching and his job with UIC was a perfect primer for his work with the Dodgers.—
Steve Reaven,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In the interim silence, a sizable amount of scholarly work was churned out.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Either way, the scholarly tendency has been to devalue choice and chance as historical factors.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Highbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highbrow. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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