poseur
Americannoun
-
poseurs
plural
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:
"The joke of Ali G is that he was a maximally clueless white-bro poseur," the review continued.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
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
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
Wilde, the clever but somewhat vacuous celebrity poseur, became an increasingly passionate presence on stage and an engaging quote machine for the anarchic American press.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2018
“That’s right, I called you a poseur, poseur.”
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
They might be poseurs tossing around references to Ginsberg and Bukowski, but the welcome mat the group offers Ed is enticing and inspiring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
I have little doubt that he resents real scientists, as poseurs always do when confronted with the real thing.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2025
Even in a television season rife with grifters, poseurs and con artists, Amanda Seyfried was very good at being bad.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
Which ones were the real artists and which ones were the poseurs?
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
