posture

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   characteristic way of bearing one's body

   stood with good posture

2. 2
   noun

   The way a person holds and positions their body.

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

3. 3
   noun

   A situation or condition.

   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 […]

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   The position of someone or something relative to another; position; situation.

   1661, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World The Moon beheld in any posture, in respect of the Sun and us, sheweth us its superficies ... always equally clear.

6. 6
   verb

   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?

7. 7
   verb

   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.

8. 8
   verb

   To place in a particular position or attitude; to pose.

   to posture oneself; to posture a model

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French posture, from Italian postura, from Latin positūra (“position, situation”). Doublet of positura.