Showing results for "posturing"

• present participle of posture.

posturing

American  

[pos-cher-ing] / ˈpɒs tʃər ɪŋ /

noun

1. speech or action that is artificial, hypocritical, or calculated to mislead.

   I'm fed up with the reaching-across-the-aisle posturing intended to make politicians seem like they’re working hard for bipartisan reform.

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adjective

1. engaging in or characterized by such speech or behavior.

   He cynically believes that anybody trying to live up to an ideal is either a posturing liar or a simple-minded fool.

Etymology

Origin of posturing

First recorded in 1620–30; postur(e) ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun; postur(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

posturing

The prosecutor said jurors had seen enough of "the egos, posing and posturing".

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Jesse Watters, a stalwart of the network’s macho posturing, has spent weeks gushing over El-Sayed with an almost comical bewilderment.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

By throwing a naive character into this environment, what were you aiming to expose about the difference between posturing around these subcultures and the lived reality of them?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

And that’s where the series’ high-value content plays out—not in the battles, not in the political posturing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

They don’t surrender anything—not their friendships, video games, the rough-and-tumble sports some of them play, or even their macho posturing.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

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Related Words

• charade
• cloak
• pretext
• semblance
• veneer

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