high-profile

high-profile — adjective

1. used to describe a person, event, job, or situation that attracts a large amount

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

used to describe a person, event, job, or situation that attracts a large amount of attention from the general public and the media, such as newspapers, television, or online news sites

Example

Femi was offered a high-profile position at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

collocation: high-profile position

The trial of the former finance minister became a high-profile case broadcast around the world.

collocation: high-profile case

Common collocations
  • high-profile position
  • high-profile case
  • high-profile event
  • high-profile lawyer
  • high-profile client
  • high-profile investigation
  • high-profile figure
  • high-profile wedding
Synonyms
  • prominent

    suggests being widely known and important in a particular field, but does not always imply media attention

  • notable

    worth noticing or famous for a specific reason; often narrower in scope than 'high-profile'

  • well-known

    familiar to many people, but can apply to local or niche fame, not necessarily widespread media coverage

  • high-visibility

    very similar in meaning; places more stress on how often something is seen than on how much it is talked about

Antonyms
  • low-profile

    the direct opposite; describes someone or something that deliberately avoids attention

  • obscure

    not known or difficult to know about; implies a lack of public awareness altogether

  • inconspicuous

    not attracting attention because of being ordinary or easily overlooked

Grammar Patterns

high-profile + noun

be + high-profile

Usage Note

Almost always appears before the noun it modifies ('a high-profile lawyer', 'a high-profile investigation'). When used after a linking verb ('His career became high-profile'), it still refers to the person or thing as a whole. Avoid using it with trivial subjects — a school bake sale is not high-profile.

Common Mistakes

She is a high profile lawyer.
She is a high-profile lawyer.
the hyphen is essential when the compound acts as an adjective before the noun.
His job is very high-profile.
He has a very high-profile job.
although predicative use is possible, attributive use (before the noun) sounds more natural.

Word family

  • low-profile
    adjectiveB2
  • high profile
    noun phraseB2
  • low profile
    noun phraseB2
  • profile
    nounB2
  • profile
    verbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe someone or something that draws public attention, but they differ in intensity and focus. 'High-profile' (B2) strongly emphasises media coverage and public scrutiny — a high-profile trial is one that newspapers and television stations follow every day. 'Prominent' (B2) focuses on importance and standing within a field: a prominent scientist may be known only among fellow researchers, not on the evening news. 'Notable' (B2) is the weakest — it simply means worth noting for a specific achievement ('a notable victory'). 'Well-known' (A2) is the most general and everyday word, covering everything from local fame to global recognition. 'High-visibility' (C1) is the closest synonym but stresses how often something appears in public view rather than how much people discuss it. For example: 'A prominent judge handled the case, but it was the celebrity defendant that made it a high-profile trial.'

prominent ↗notable ↗well-known ↗high-visibility

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • extremely high-profile
  • very high-profile
  • increasingly high-profile
  • highly

Etymology

Italian (profilo)English

The compound 'high-profile' comes from the noun phrase 'high profile', which first appeared in American English around the 1940s. The word 'profile' originally meant a side view of the face, but by the early 1900s it had developed the figurative meaning of 'the amount of public attention someone attracts'. Adding 'high' created the image of someone holding their head up in public, visible to everyone. By the 1950s, 'high-profile' was being used as a compound adjective, and its opposite 'low-profile' appeared around the same time.