POSER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does poser mean? 

• POSER (noun)
  The noun POSER has 3 senses:

1. a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not

2. a person who poses for a photographer or painter or sculptor

3. a particularly difficult or baffling question or problem

  Familiarity information: POSER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who habitually pretends to be something he is not

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

poser; poseur

Hypernyms ("poser" is a kind of...):

exhibitionist; show-off (someone who deliberately behaves in such a way as to attract attention)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "poser"):

poseuse (a woman poseur)

Derivation:

pose (pretend to be someone you are not; sometimes with fraudulent intentions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who poses for a photographer or painter or sculptor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

model; poser

Context example:

the president didn't have time to be a model so the artist worked from photos

Hypernyms ("poser" is a kind of...):

assistant; help; helper; supporter (a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "poser"):

artist's model; sitter (a person who poses for a painter or sculptor)

dressmaker's model (someone who models dresses)

photographer's model (a model who poses for photographers)

Derivation:

pose (assume a posture as for artistic purposes)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A particularly difficult or baffling question or problem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

poser; sticker; stumper; toughie

Hypernyms ("poser" is a kind of...):

problem (a question raised for consideration or solution)

Derivation:

pose (be a mystery or bewildering to)

 Context examples 

This was a poser to me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This was a poser, and I could only answer lamely enough that, much as I was indebted to my uncle, I had known Jim first, and that I was surely old enough to choose my own friends.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)