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
Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 9 Jan. 2026
Reactions to the installation, at least so far, seem notably less highbrow.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 4 Dec. 2025
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
Executives at NBCUniversal frame Bravo as a brand that represents a particular type of lowbrow-highbrow reality TV, and that even if the channel vanished, the brand could live on.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 9 Jan. 2026
Reactions to the installation, at least so far, seem notably less highbrow.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 4 Dec. 2025
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
-
Mystic trust in the power of Mercury or whatever spans generations and intellectual capacities.—
Hillary Busis,
Vanity Fair,
13 Feb. 2026
-
But these associations were purely intellectual.—
Shayla Love,
New Yorker,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The less cerebral side of life is visible just across the street.—
Maureen O'Hare,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
-
As for Celebrini, the youngest player on the team, his skill and cerebral 200-foot game should, in theory, mesh well with McDavid.—
Arpon Basu,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The fact that Katherine had been institutionalized may have tainted her scholarly reputation.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Brown-Grier argued that this knowledge gap is not just a scholarly problem but a governance one.—
Marybeth Gasman,
Forbes.com,
16 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Highbrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highbrow. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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