posture

1 position or arrangement of the body and its limbs; "he assumed an attitude of surrender" [syn: position, attitude]

2 characteristic way of bearing one's body; "stood with good posture" [syn: carriage, bearing]

3 a rationalized mental attitude [syn: position, stance]

4 capability in terms of personnel and materiel that affect the capacity to fight a war; "we faced an army of great strength"; "politicians have neglected our military posture" [syn: military capability, military strength, strength, military posture]

1 behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others; "Don't pay any attention to him--he is always posing to impress his peers!"; "She postured and made a total fool of herself" [syn: pose]

2 assume a posture as for artistic purposes; "We don't know the woman who posed for Leonardo so often" [syn: model, pose, sit]

English

Etymology

From etyl fr, from etyl it postura, from etyl la positūra

Pronunciation

• (UK) /ˈpɒstʃə/, /"pQstS@/
• (US) /ˈpɑːstʃɚ/, /"pA:stS@`/

Noun

1. the way a person holds and positions their body
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

     As if that whatsoever god who leads him / Were slily crept into his human powers, / And gave him graceful posture.

   • 1689 (or earlier), Aphra Behn, Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister

     ...walking in a most dejected posture, without a band, unbraced, his arms a-cross his open breast, and his eyes bent to the floor;

   • 1895, Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

     Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous.

2. a situation or condition
   • 1905, David Graham Phillips, The Deluge

     Even as I was reading these fables of my millions, there lay on the desk before me a statement of the exact posture of my affairs...

   • 1910, H.G. Wells, The History of Mr Polly

     Uncle Jim stopped amazed. His brain did not instantly rise to the new posture of things.

3. one's attitude or the social or political position one takes towards an issue or another person
   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

     ...that is, their Forts, Garrisons, and Guns upon the Frontiers of their Kingdomes; and continuall Spyes upon their neighbours; which is a posture of War.

   • 1912, G.K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

     But it is not true, no sane person can call it true, that man as a whole in his general attitude towards the world, in his posture towards death or green fields, towards the weather or the baby, will be wise to cultivate dissatisfaction.

Translations

Verb

1. to put one's body into a posture or series of postures, especially hoping that one will be noticed and admired

   • If you're finished posturing in front of the mirror, can I use the bathroom now?

2. to pretend to have an opinion or a conviction

   • The politicians couldn't really care less about the issue -- they're just posturing for the media.

Italian

Noun

posture

1. Plural of postura

Posture or posturing may refer to:

• Neutral spine or good posture
• Human position
• Abnormal posturing, in neurotrauma
• Posturography, in neurology
• Posture and Occupational Health

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