poseur
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does poseur mean? A poseur, commonly spelled poser, is when you act like someone you're not or when you're perceived to be inauthentic. So-called emo scene kids might be called poseurs.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of poseur
From French, dating back to 1880–85; see origin at pose 1, -eur
Explanation
"Strike a pose," sang Madonna in her most famous song, "Vogue." But if the pose you're striking is fake, pretentious, or arrogant, you're a poseur. Be yourself: it's cooler. It's one thing to be smart, funny, or cool. It's another thing to pretend to be that way: that's the life of a poseur. (Say it in the French way: poh-ZUHR.) It's all too easy to spot a poseur from their ridiculous posing. Why poseurs think that they come across as anything other than fake is beyond me. They must be really insecure to think they need to pretend to be something they're not. Every once in a while, though, a poseur can fake it till they make it. Then they're no longer a poseur.
Vocabulary lists containing poseur
English Words Derived from French, List 10
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Ready Player One
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Hole in My Life
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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:
Does this purveyor of nonfiction cinema have any real truth to express, or is he just a poseur, a sham, a sellout?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2022
But he comes off like a rich poseur trying to make idealism his #brand, manically quoting progressive catchphrases the way he spat bad rap at a Season-2 party for Logan.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
Tom Callahan, an ex-Marine, knows a flimflammer, a bugiardo, a poseur, a gasconader when he hears one.
From Golf Digest ● May 6, 2020
Yet he’s too often regarded as a tough guy, a poseur Mafia don who’s osmotically absorbed too many gangster movies.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2019
He heard their excited argument, and then, an intentional poseur, he shook each paw daintily in turn, stepped delicately down from the rocks, and vanished from the men’s sight.
From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford
And directors Bailey and Barbato seem intent on casting Louisville as a place of poseurs and pretensions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
Like trolls and sanctimonious poseurs, influencers goose Twitter's algorithm by appealing to base instincts.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022
That is, the world is a gullible circus, dragged down by poseurs who appropriate the false values of show business.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2022
Her main complaint was with the poseurs — people who took photos with bags or cars that they did not actually own.
From New York Times ● Dec. 25, 2021
Gunters who wanted help joined a clan, and Aech and I both agreed that clans were for suck-asses and poseurs.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
