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:
Craig is no Nick Adams, but did Sternbergh project his own impostor syndrome onto Daisy’s poseur husband?
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
You would call Urban Meyer a poseur, but he’s too evasive to hold any pose for long.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2021
But there's not even a poseur version of it.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2020
Tom Callahan, an ex-Marine, knows a flimflammer, a bugiardo, a poseur, a gasconader when he hears one.
From Golf Digest ● May 6, 2020
“OK. Let’s see who the real poseur is,” he said.
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
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
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.
