highbrow
Artistically sophisticated taste
Highbrow describes intellectual or culturally sophisticated tastes, often with a hint of elitism or pretension: highbrow literature, highbrow art.
As a noun, a highbrow is someone with such tastes.
The term comes from the pseudoscientific belief that a high forehead indicated intelligence.
It contrasts with lowbrow and the middle ground of middlebrow.
Relating to intellect
- eruditeProfoundly knowledgeable
- scholarlyMarked by serious learning
- philosophicalConcerned with fundamental truths
- analyticalExamining parts methodically
discerning · sagacious · pedantic · learned · cultivated · bookish · literary · well-read
Marked by serious learning
- eruditeProfoundly knowledgeable
- professorialBefitting an academic lecturer
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
seminar · symposium · pedagogy · academia · tenure · journal · publication · research
Theatrical art combining song
- symphonyExtended composition for orchestra
- balletClassical dance on pointe
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- philharmonicLarge orchestra organization
Shakespeare · Beethoven · Mozart · chamber music · sonata · concerto · aria · libretto
Purified or cultured
- culturedEducated in arts, manners
- polishedSmooth, refined, accomplished
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
- cosmopolitanCulturally sophisticated, internationally fluent
urbane · suave · debonair · cultivated · worldly · genteel · distinguished · tasteful
Innovative cultural pioneers
- impressionismStyle prioritizing perception
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
- cubismGeometric, fragmented visual style
dadaism · abstract · masterpiece · fresco · chiaroscuro · aesthetics · modernism · minimalism
Understood by few
- abstruseDifficult to comprehend
- reconditeObscure and specialized
- crypticObscure in meaning
- enigmaticPuzzling and obscure
hermetic · obscure · inscrutable · opaque · impenetrable · rarefied · niche · inaccessible
cerebral
Relating to intellect
- eruditeProfoundly knowledgeable
- scholarlyMarked by serious learning
- philosophicalConcerned with fundamental truths
analytical · discerning · sagacious · pedantic · learned · cultivated · bookish · literary · well-read · cognoscenti
scholarly
Marked by serious learning
- eruditeProfoundly knowledgeable
- professorialBefitting an academic lecturer
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
thesis · seminar · symposium · pedagogy · academia · tenure · journal · publication · research · monograph
opera
Theatrical art combining song
- symphonyExtended composition for orchestra
- balletClassical dance on pointe
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
philharmonic · Shakespeare · Beethoven · Mozart · chamber music · sonata · concerto · aria · libretto · Renaissance
refined
Purified or cultured
- culturedEducated in arts, manners
- polishedSmooth, refined, accomplished
- elegantGracefully refined, tasteful
cosmopolitan · urbane · suave · debonair · cultivated · worldly · genteel · distinguished · tasteful · discerning
avant-garde
Innovative cultural pioneers
- impressionismStyle prioritizing perception
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
cubism · dadaism · abstract · masterpiece · fresco · chiaroscuro · aesthetics · modernism · minimalism · baroque
arcane
Understood by few
enigmatic · hermetic · obscure · inscrutable · opaque · impenetrable · rarefied · niche · inaccessible · dense
- aestheticsaesthetics, aesthetic, beauty, beautiful, ugly
- Smartsintelligent, genius, smart, gifted, brilliant
- snobssnob, elitist, snoot, prig, pretender
- intellectualsscholar, intellectual, academic, thinker, philosopher
- pretentiousnesspretentious, pretentiousness, pretension, pompous, pomposity
- speech registersformal, informal, casual, colloquial, vernacular
highbrowlowbrow
Lacking intellectual depth
philistine · uncultured · anti-intellectual · dumbed-down · middlebrow
highbrowlowbrow
Lacking intellectual depth
down-to-earth · unpretentious · no-nonsense · salt-of-the-earth · plain-spoken