Dictionary

high-cheekboner en · NOUN

Etymology

From high + cheekbone + -er.

Meanings

1. (US) Synonym 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 2025:

Forms

Synonyms

box checker