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I personally do not write highbrow music. If I do, it's by accident.
Gordon Getty

Meaning of "highbrow" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF HIGHBROW

highbrow  [ˈhaɪˌbraʊ] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HIGHBROW

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Highbrow can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES HIGHBROW MEAN IN ENGLISH?

highbrow

Highbrow

Used colloquially as a noun or adjective, "highbrow" is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The word draws its metonymy from the pseudoscience of phrenology, and was originally simply a physical descriptor. "Highbrow" can be applied to music, implying most of the classical music tradition and literature—i.e., literary fiction and poetry; to films in the arthouse line; and to comedy that requires significant understanding of analogies or references to appreciate. The term highbrow is considered by some (with corresponding labels as 'middlebrow' 'lowbrow') as discriminatory or overly selective (Lawrence W. Levine, "Prologue", Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America, 1990: 3; highbrow is currently distanced from the writer by quotation marks: "We thus focus on the consumption of two generally recognised 'highbrow' genres—opera and classical" (Tak Wing Chan, Social Status and Cultural Consumption 2010: 60). The first usage in print of highbrow was recorded in 1884.

Definition of highbrow in the English dictionary

The definition of highbrow in the dictionary is a person of scholarly and erudite tastes. Other definition of highbrow is appealing to highbrows.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH HIGHBROW


arow
əˈraʊ
Arrau
əˈraʊ
brow
braʊ
drow
draʊ
eyebrow
ˈaɪˌbraʊ
feldgrau
ˈfeltˌɡraʊ
Frau
fraʊ
gherao
ɡɛˈraʊ
hausfrau
ˈhaʊsˌfraʊ
lowbrow
ˈləʊˌbraʊ
middlebrow
ˈmɪdəlˌbraʊ
monobrow
ˈmɒnəʊˌbraʊ
overbrow
ˌəʊvəˈbraʊ
prau
praʊ
prow
praʊ
tamarao
ˈtæməˌraʊ
tamarau
ˈtæməˌraʊ
Tarau
ˈtɑːraʊ
unibrow
ˈjuːnɪˌbraʊ

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE HIGHBROW

high-up
high-velocity
high-voltage
high-water mark
high-wire act
highball
highbinder
highblooded
highborn
highboy
highbred
highbrowism
highchair
higher
higher criticism
higher degree
higher education
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Higher Grade
higher mathematics

WORDS THAT END LIKE HIGHBROW

arrow
barrow
bone marrow
borrow
crow
escrow
front row
grow
in a row
marrow
morrow
narrow
Paltrow
raise an eyebrow
row
skid row
sorrow
sparrow
throw
tomorrow

Synonyms and antonyms of highbrow in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «HIGHBROW»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «highbrow» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of highbrow

Translation of «highbrow» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF HIGHBROW

Find out the translation of highbrow to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of highbrow from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «highbrow» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

曲高和寡
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

highbrow
570 millions of speakers

English

highbrow
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

घमंडी
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

المترفعة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

высоколобых
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

intelectual
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

অতি বিদ্বান
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

intellectuel
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Highbrow
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Intellektuelle
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

高尚な
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

지식인
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Highbrow
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

trí thức
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

அறிஞர்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

उच्च
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

ukalâ
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

intellettuale
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

intelektualista
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

високочолих
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

provenienta de clasa
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

διανοούμενος
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

hoogmoedig
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

highbrow
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

åndssnobb
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of highbrow

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «HIGHBROW»

The term «highbrow» is regularly used and occupies the 102.110 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
52
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «highbrow» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of highbrow
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «highbrow».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «HIGHBROW» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «highbrow» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «highbrow» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about highbrow

EXAMPLES

7 QUOTES WITH «HIGHBROW»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word highbrow.
1
Adrian Edmondson
I don't claim that our TV comedies are highbrow in anyway, but I think there's a basis to them, and that's why they're more popular than other TV comedies. There's a basis of truth in them, a gut feeling.
2
Jasper Fforde
So my humor, I'd say, comes from a mixture of lowbrow comedy shows and highbrow theater. It's an interesting mix.
3
Gordon Getty
I personally do not write highbrow music. If I do, it's by accident.
4
Alan Patrick Herbert
A highbrow is the kind of person who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.
5
Maxfield Parrish
I don't know what people find or like in me, I'm hopelessly commonplace! Current appreciation of my work is a bit highbrow, I've always considered myself a popular artist.
6
Irvine Welsh
There's all this stuff that is happening in Edinburgh now, it's a sad attempt to create an Edinburgh society, similar to a London society, a highbrow literature celebrity society.
7
James Wolcott
Slashing its way to the finish line, 'Black Swan' is the first ballet movie for highbrow horror fans for whom ballet itself signifies little to nothing. Those of us who know and love ballet can only look on it with a different kind of horror.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HIGHBROW»

Discover the use of highbrow in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to highbrow and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Highbrow/lowdown: Theater, Jazz, and the Making of the New ...
This is performance history as an innovative 'political economy of culture,' and it's a knockout." ---Joseph Roach, Yale University "A stunningly original analysis of music and theater in the 1920s as inseparable faces of jazz.
David Savran, 2009
2
Hollywood Highbrow: From Entertainment to Art
Shyon Baumann is the first to address these issues broadly for the case of American film. He writes engagingly and the book is a good read."--Paul J. DiMaggio, Princeton University
Shyon Baumann, 2007
3
Lolita in Peyton Place: Highbrow, Middlebrow, and LowBrow ...
First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Ruth Pirsig Wood, 2014
4
From the Arthouse to the Grindhouse: Highbrow and Lowbrow ...
This volume also contains a section devoted to the idea of "reality" inside and outside the documentary sphere, emphasizing audiences' desire to believe that "this is really happening," whether they're horrified or titillated.
John Cline, Robert G. Weiner, 2010
5
When the Highbrow Joined the Outfit
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series.
Nina Wilcox Putnam, Norman Jacobsen, 2010
6
Fringe and Fortune: The Role of Critics in High and Popular Art
The last two rows of Table 7.4 show that, while the proportion of differences is about the same for highbrow and popular shows, the magnitude of the difference is greater for popular genres (comedy, cabaret). Published reviews of popular ...
Wesley Shrum, 1996
7
Do-It-Yourself BIBLE PROPHECY KIT!
Highbrow defectors splutter benefiter. Bewitched poofters frighten blusterer. Highbrow benefiter splutters defector. Highbrow defector benefits splutterer. Better high-pressured reticent blow off. Better frighted botchier powerfulness. Frighten ...
J. Smith
8
The Rise of a Jazz Art World
The highbrow enjoys and respects the lowbrow's art - jazz for instance - which he is likely to call a spontaneous expression of folk culture. The lowbrow is not interested, as the middlebrow is, in pre-empting any of the highbrow's function or in ...
Paul Douglas Lopes, 2002
9
Social Status and Cultural Consumption
First, it must be emphasised that the most important predictor of highbrow cultural behaviour is educational attainment. For visiting museums, attending classical concerts, and visiting theatre plays, schooling effects are up to four times as ...
Tak Wing Chan, 2010
10
Class and News
The common accusation that tabloid reporters practice body bag journalism is thus supported by this study's results and consistent with Knight's (1989) argument that the tabloid news genre is more concerned than highbrow news with crime, ...
Don Heider, 2004

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HIGHBROW»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term highbrow is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Iran Deal Holds Both Promise and Peril for Hillary Clinton …
Site Search. Search. About Us · Advertise With Us · Masthead · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact · Help. © Copyright Highbrow Magazine. «Highbrow Magazine, Jul 15»
2
Emmys 2015: Five Things To Watch Out For In The Miniseries, TV …
... controversial Bill Maher, or highbrow John Oliver of Last Week Tonight. Jimmy Fallon's niceties and respectable ratings on The Tonight Show ... «Decider, Jul 15»
3
Review: Switch-hitting 'Damn Yankees' scores | Pittsburgh Post …
That meant that the artists had to let go of highbrow operatic instincts and embrace lowbrow accents and attitudes. This “Damn Yankees” was ... «Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jul 15»
4
RHOBH Season 5: Is Brandi Ruining Kim's Life? | Heidi Montag
Obviously, smoking pot is the first topic of conversation amongst these highbrow women. Let's get this party started! The height of this season's ... «Huffington Post UK, Jul 15»
5
Ensemble blends classical, hip-hop in Sacramento concert | The …
A key premise is to illustrate that hip-hop has the musical sophistication and artistry normally considered the domain of highbrow genres. «Sacramento Bee, Jul 15»
6
Waleed Aly: Bringing a new perspective to the conversation
... assumption that Radio National is highbrow and commercial TV is lowbrow and that I could never be anything other than highbrow," he says. «Sydney Morning Herald, Jul 15»
7
Agenda for Lagos governor | BusinessDay
... much of the energy expended on infrastructure upgrade was concentrated in the highbrow neighbourhoods of the city where the 'big guys' ... «BusinessDay, Jul 15»
8
City of verse: Four new books by Montreal poets extend a deep …
Expressing such a lowbrow-sympathetic sensibility within a traditionally highbrow-identified form, and wringing that tension for humour and ... «Montreal Gazette, Jul 15»
9
Freeze! Ice pop recipes offer a tasty way to chill out in mid-summer …
"I love lowbrow being highbrow. When I started making them to sell on the street, no one had thought to turn the ice pop into something very ... «The Denver Post, Jul 15»
10
Hive Minds, review: 'gimmicky' - Telegraph
Highbrow quizzes are fast becoming a BBC Four staple. Following in the comfortably-shod, donnish footsteps of Only Connect, The Book Quiz ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Highbrow [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/highbrow>. Apr 2024 ».
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