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

See Examples For:

posing

The river’s retreat makes it vulnerable to the incursion of sea water from the Adriatic, posing a threat to crops.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

It is understood the communication between Burnham and the person posing as Wiles was in the form of messages and there was no conversation between the two.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone posing as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, several media outlets reported on Monday.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

He told the judge that he had contacted the company before its annual investor conference, posing as an investor at a firm with $50 million in assets, the Journal reported.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

They began posing for posterity, writing letters to us as much as to one another, especially toward the end of their respective careers.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• charade
• cloak
• pretext
• semblance
• veneer