posture

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   The way a person holds and positions their body.

   • As if that whatsoever god who leads him Were slily crept into his human powers, And gave him graceful posture.
   • […] walking in a most dejected posture, without a band, unbraced, his arms a-cross his open breast, and his eyes bent to the floor;
   • Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous.
2. 2

   A situation or condition.

   • Even as I was reading these fables of my millions, there lay on the desk before me a statement of the exact posture of my affairs […]
   • Uncle Jim stopped amazed. His brain did not instantly rise to the new posture of things.
3. 3

   One's attitude or the social or political position one takes towards an issue or another…

   One's attitude or the social or political position one takes towards an issue or another person.

   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan ...that is, their Forts, Garrisons, and Guns upon the Frontiers of their Kingdomes; and continuall Spyes upon their neighbours; which is a posture of War.
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      The position of someone or something relative to another

      The position of someone or something relative to another; position; situation.

      • 1661, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World The Moon beheld in any posture, in respect of the Sun and us, sheweth us its superficies ... always equally clear.
   2. 5

      To put one's body into a posture or series of postures, especially hoping that one will…

      To put one's body into a posture or series of postures, especially hoping that one will be noticed and admired.

      • If you're finished posturing in front of the mirror, can I use the bathroom now?
   3. 6

      To pretend to have an opinion or a conviction.

      • The politicians couldn't really care less about the issue: they're just posturing for the media.
      • But these plays allow us to look beyond the posturing, punditry and angry speechifying, to really feel the painful, inescapable hardships of daily life as it is lived by increasing numbers of Americans.
      • Belarusian officials continue to posture military strength amid the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast, Russia.
   4. 7

      To place in a particular position or attitude

      To place in a particular position or attitude; to pose.

      • to posture oneself; to posture a model
      • As pointed Diamonds being set, Cast greater lustre out of Jet, Those peeces we esteem most rare, Which in night shadows postur'd are.

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