highbrow

adj

Etymology

A compound of the words high + brow, first recorded usage in 1875. Referring to the (by that time discredited) science of phrenology, which suggested that a person of intelligence and sophistication would possess a higher brow-line than someone of lesser intelligence and sophistication.

  1. inherited from *h₃bʰrúHs — “brow
  2. inherited from *brūwō
  3. inherited from *brāwu
  4. inherited from brū
  5. inherited from browe
  6. compounded as highbrow — “high + brow

Definitions

  1. Intellectually stimulating, highly cultured, sophisticated.

    • highbrow entertainment
    • They tend to regard the socialist intellectuals as nothing more than a pernicious bunch of highbrow radicals without appreciating their influence […]
  2. A cultured or learned person or thing.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for highbrow. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA