highbrow
highbrow Lexical Profile
highbrow Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Intellectual, rarefied, or culturally sophisticated in taste or appeal, sometimes to the point of being elitist or pretentious.
"The independent cinema specializes in highbrow foreign dramas rather than summer blockbusters."
• noun
A person of superior intellectual or cultural tastes and interests, often viewed as elitist or snobbish.
"The literary journal was founded by a group of academic highbrows in the 1920s."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Highbrow' often carries a mildly disparaging or ironic undertone, suggesting that something or someone is overly elitist, pretentious, or inaccessible to the general public.
• Rhymes for highbrow
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in late 19th-century American English, the term stems from the pseudoscientific theories of phrenology, which falsely claimed that a high forehead indicated superior intelligence and cultural refinement.