Meanings
plural high-cheekboners
- USSynonym of box checker (“someone who is counted in an organization as representing a minority ethnic group but who is so assimilated into the dominant culture that their ethnic status becomes meaningless”).
And according to NBC Universal, only 0.4 percent of its workforce identifies as Native—self-identified “Indians”—meaning anyone on staff can claim to be Native American by checking the box, including people known in Indian Country as “box-checkers” or “high-cheekboners.”
[2024 September 25, Simon Moya-Smith, “A Native Movement Hopes to Get Out the Vote. But Some Native Americans Say, “No Thanks!””, in The Nation, retrieved 26 Sep 2025Synonyms: box checker
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of box checker (“someone who is counted in an organization as representing a minority ethnic group but who is so assimilated into the dominant culture that their ethnic status becomes meaningless”).
Origin
Cite this entry
high-cheekboner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high-cheekboner
“high-cheekboner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high-cheekboner. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “high-cheekboner,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high-cheekboner.
Source: high-cheekboner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.