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

As they waited on the ship's deck they could be seen smiling and chatting while posing for photos.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

Drawing a throughline between all three films, “Elephant” was posing questions that “The Drama” intends to answer.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2026

Imad Marcos was enthusiastic at the Church's opening, posing in front of the building first with sunglasses on and then off.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

Soleimani Afshar regularly published images and videos of herself in what appear to be designer clothes, engaging in activities associated with wealth, including riding in a Hummer and posing for glamour shots in short dresses.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

And it depended almost entirely on the geographic and demographic location of the person posing the question.

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

Related Words

• charade
• cloak
• pretext
• semblance
• veneer