highlife

H4I1G2H4L1I1F4E1

noun

A genre of music that originated in Ghana in the early 20th century, blending elements of traditional Akan music with Western instruments and ideas.

UncommonScrabble 18

Meanings

highlife1

nounhighlife (countable and uncountable, plural highlifes)

plural highlifes

  1. uncountableentertainmentA genre of music that originated in Ghana in the early 20th century, blending elements of traditional Akan music with Western instruments and ideas.

    Anwar took the broom away from the Congolese cleaner – whose name I did not know, whose name no one ever thought to ask – and made her dance with him, to some highlife he had going on the transistor radio he carried everywhere.

    2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 326
  2. countableentertainmentA work or performance in this style.

    Then he left the stage and listened to us playing highlifes.

    1985, John Collins, African Pop Roots: The Inside Rhythms of Africa, →ISBN, page 76
    1 more example

    Several of the city's most prominent ensembles started to incorporate foreign rock 'n' roll numbers into their existing repertories of ballroom, calypsos, and highlifes.

    2012, Nate Plageman, Highlife Saturday Night: Popular Music and Social Change in Urban Ghana, →ISBN, page 142

Highlife2

proper noun

alternative HighLife

  1. cellular automataA Life-like cellular automaton with the rule B36/S23.

HighLife3

proper noun
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Highlife.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe activity of excessive spending

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Norwegian Bokmål high life, highlife
  • high lifegenre of music originating in Ghana
  • highlifegenre of music originating in Ghana
Cite this entry
APA

highlife. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highlife

MLA

“highlife.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highlife. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “highlife,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highlife.

Source: highlife on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.