different between snobbish vs highbrow

English

Etymology

snob +? -ish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sn?b??/

Adjective

snobbish (comparative more snobbish, superlative most snobbish)

1. Having the property of being a snob; arrogant and pretentious; smugly superior or dismissive of perceived inferiors.
   • c.1948, George Orwell, Such, Such Were the Joys

     St Cyprian's was an expensive and snobbish school which was in process of becoming more snobbish, and, I imagine, more expensive.

Synonyms

• cliquish

Translations

English

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.

Adjective

highbrow

1. (sometimes derogatory) Intellectually stimulating, highly cultured, sophisticated.

   Antonym: lowbrow

   Coordinate term: middlebrow

Translations

Noun

highbrow (plural highbrows)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A cultured or learned person or thing.

   Synonyms: intellectual, scholar

   Antonym: lowbrow

   Coordinate term: middlebrow

Translations

Further reading

• “highbrow”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• highbrow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ESC, 2003. Re:highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, The Phrase finder.
• Robert Hendrickson, 1997. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (New York: Facts on File)