posse
Americannoun
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a body or force armed with legal authority.
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Slang. a group of friends or associates.
hanging out with your posse; a posse of drug dealers.
noun
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Also called: posse comitatus. the able-bodied men of a district assembled together and forming a group upon whom the sheriff may call for assistance in maintaining law and order
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law possibility (esp in the phrase in posse )
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slang a Jamaican street gang in the US
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informal a group of friends or associates
Etymology
Origin of posse
First recorded in 1575–85; from Medieval Latin posse “power, force,” noun use of Latin infinitive: “to be able, have power,” contraction of potis “able” + esse “to be”; see potent 1
Explanation
A posse is group of people who help the police force when necessary. In a classic Western movie, when the sheriff gathers together a posse, its members usually work to find and arrest the bad guys. The classic image of a posse is from the Old West, of a group of armed cowboys on horses, in pursuit of an outlaw. Originally the term was posse comitatus, Latin meaning the force of the country. Today, the word posse is used most often to refer to a group of friends or people with some common interest, in a somewhat joking way, like your posse that gets together to hit all the garage sales together.
Vocabulary lists containing posse
March: Book Three
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Because They Marched
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A Long Way from Chicago
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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.
On the way out, a member of McGregor’s posse briefly collapsed in front of me before being rallied by his friends.
From Salon • May 27, 2026
But for now, no other posse of stocks has come to take their place.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 19, 2026
His law firm had invented “Mass Torts Made Perfect” and ran it as a conference for elite plaintiffs’ attorneys nationwide to rub elbows and strategize, making him the unofficial president of the polo club posse.
From Slate • Jan. 13, 2026
He is now trying to play it down: "Not really, no. Ryan Giggs was there, too," lowering himself one position in the power rankings of Beckham's posse for that evening.
From BBC • Jan. 4, 2026
The way the posse was lined up had the sheriff and one the ’nother men up front and me and Petey riding abreast in the middle whilst the other two men trailed behind.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
