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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of highbrow
Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
At the time, Bravo was forging a new identity in reality programming after years as a niche cable network that aired highbrow art films, opera and ballet.
—Senior Television, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 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
This kind of boosterism—no less evident in Bernard Lewis’s highbrow argument in The New Yorker that Muslims fear modernity than in Niall Ferguson’s entreaties for the Bush Administration to resume the British Empire’s task of civilizing the natives—always seemed bafflingly sterile to me.
—Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
At the time, Bravo was forging a new identity in reality programming after years as a niche cable network that aired highbrow art films, opera and ballet.
—Senior Television, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 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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Uranus in Gemini wants people to think for themselves, question everything and evolve on an intellectual level.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
15 May 2026
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Granted, the cast is skilled enough to work these intimate specifics into (and beneath) their conversations, but the details are often dropped into these empty spaces after long delays, a kind of Tetris storytelling that works far more as an intellectual exercise than an emotional one.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
14 May 2026
Adjective
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The son of a Scottish immigrant, McCluskie had a reputation as a political street fighter and his gruff style complemented Becerra’s more measured, cerebral approach.—
Dakota Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026
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For instance, the love planet Venus spends the first half of the month in the curious, playful and loquacious sign of Gemini, making attraction more cerebral than physical.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
8 May 2026
Adjective
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The individual who once grappled with learning disabilities emerged into a scholarly critical thinker.—
Jason Jones,
New York Times,
10 May 2026
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For most of his life, Mojtaba was not regarded as a religious scholar of significant theological authority or scholarly distinction.—
Hamidreza Azizi,
Time,
9 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Highbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highbrow. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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