attitudinize
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of attitudinize
1775–85; attitudin- ( see attitudinarian) + -ize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To be a "conteur," to figure in "proverbs," to attitudinize, to produce a "sensation"—all these are purposes of ambition in foreign circles.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843 by Various
They never do anything that I can see, except attitudinize.
From The Jonathan Papers by Morris, Elisabeth Woodbridge
The cause requires a youth to "stalk, and bustle, and attitudinize;" and he clearly thinks this is all the youth before him wants to do, whether conscious of the fact or not.
From A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) by Orr, Sutherland, Mrs.
A jay would alight in the entrance of the hole, and flirt and peer and attitudinize, and then fly away crying “Thief, thief, thief!” at the top of his voice.
From Locusts and Wild Honey by Burroughs, John
A bird seldom sings when watched, and Nature is no coquette, and will not ogle and attitudinize when stared at.
From Our Friend John Burroughs by Barrus, Clara
While two yellow-robed girls stood sentry-like at each side of the chancel, Miss Schirmer postured, gestured and attitudinized.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an instantaneous photograph.
From Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 by Various
They attitudinized also, with a kind of childish poetry that did not quite convince, for the fountain rained on them, and some of them shivered as cold gouts of water smote their shoulder-blades.
From We Can't Have Everything by Hughes, Rupert
While the bombardment was going on at Avron he exposed himself freely to the fire, but instead of superintending the operations he attitudinized and made speeches.
From Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris by Labouchere, Henry
Fountains that tossed up coloratura bubbles of sheerest aria and a sort of Greek frieze of youth attitudinized toward herself.
From Star-Dust by Hurst, Fannie
With deft tonal shifts and acrobatic attitudinizing, Pinchot charges in at a pace rather fast for audiobook narration, but perfectly matching Kidd’s hyperkinetic prose.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2022
Dixon’s direction of the white actors’ performances exposes the dual meaning of the term “bad actors”: the officials’ fat-cat presumptions and facile attitudinizing are mocked in the characters’ exaggerated B-movie cadences.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 20, 2018
“All we get is fatuous attitudinizing about how ambition, success and money always lead to rack and ruin,” Mr. Rich wrote.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2012
It's not a Jerry Bruckheimer action-adventure movie but a European art-house film, with its emphasis on attitudinizing, sullen tempers and long takes of people scurrying to get nowhere.
From Time ● Jul. 10, 2010
Whereas here, these men in their tight-fitting and uncomfortable uniforms, were attitudinizing and indulging in that military form of gallantry, which may be picturesque but certainly looks most uncomfortable.
From L.P.M. : the end of the Great War by Barney, J. Stewart (John Stewart)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
