posing

¹ American  

[poh-zing] / ˈpoʊ zɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or practice of assuming a particular attitude or stance, especially with the hope of impressing others.

   The new website aims to strip away the pretentious posing of wine connoisseurs, inviting users to “tell us what tastes good to you!”

2. the act or practice of falsely representing oneself.

   Under all his posing as an honest reporter, his real purpose is to defend a barbarous regime.

3. the act of assuming or holding a particular physical position, or of placing someone else in such a position, as for a portrait or photograph.

   She liked to paint women and children, and the natural posing of her subjects is still unsurpassed.

4. the act of putting forward, stating, or suggesting something, as a question, hypothesis, matter for consideration, etc..

   Classroom strategies like cooperative learning and the posing of open-ended questions can encourage thinking and discussion.

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adjective

1. falsely representing oneself, or assuming a particular attitude or stance in the hope of impressing others.

   I don’t fit in—everyone else in that place is a filmmaker, an "edgy" magazine journalist, or a posing hipster.

2. assuming a particular physical position, as for a portrait or photograph.

   I love how real and natural these images are—no posing tourists, just scenic beauty on its own.

posing ² American  

[poh-zing] / ˈpoʊ zɪŋ /

adjective

1. baffling, perplexing, or vexing; difficult.

   The command to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” has within it the most posing challenge for you and me—learning to love ourselves.

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Other Word Forms

• posingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of posing¹

First recorded in 1850–55; pos(e) ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun senses; pos(e) ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses

Origin of posing²

pos(e) ² ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

At the same time, bacteria continually evolve resistance to antibiotics, posing a growing threat to human health.

From Science Daily

She was discovered in her teens after posing on the cover of Elle magazine, swiftly becoming a sensation in her home country, and was persuaded to enter the cinema world.

From BBC

She’s a sweetheart and so good at posing so she doesn’t need a lot of direction.

From Los Angeles Times

Durov, who almost always wears black—except when posing for shirtless photos with six-pack abs—espouses a libertarian view of the world, rejecting alignment with states and centralized power.

From The Wall Street Journal

"It's a bloody photo op," one woman tells me on Sunday, as a prominent Australian businesswoman arrives and begins posing with the floral tributes at Bondi.

From BBC

Related Words

• charade
• cloak
• pretext
• semblance
• veneer