poster child

noun

1

: a child who has a disease and is pictured in posters to solicit funds for combating the disease

2

: a person having a public image that is identified with something (such as a cause)

Examples of poster child in a Sentence

She was a stirring speaker and activist and soon became the poster child of the antiwar movement.

Recent Examples on the Web

Across the 20th century, GE was a poster child for American industrial invention and scale, from power generators and light bulbs to jet engines, medical imaging, and early computing. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 21 Jan. 2026

There’s no greater poster child for this turnover phenomenon than the megabanks, whose performance metrics are obsessively watched and whose top performers frequently switch companies and take best practices with them. —Matthew Heimer, Fortune, 21 Jan. 2026

The poster child for China’s electric car boom is also an underappreciated leader in batteries. —Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 18 Jan. 2026

Tina Peters’ case could be the poster child for that very threat. —Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 14 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for poster child

• domiciled
• reconciled
• undefiled
• beguiled
• brainchild
• compiled
• defiled
• exiled
• grandchild
• profiled
• refiled
• reviled