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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Inmates jumped and sang and took the brief moment outside the prison walls to enjoy some live music from the poster child of second chances. Melonee Hurt, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025 Whereas Io is the poster child for this mechanism, tidal heating also heats many other worlds, including Io’s neighbor, the icy moon Europa, where the heat is thought to sustain a subterranean saltwater ocean. Robin Andrews, Wired News, 15 June 2025 Newsom’s California is an unmitigated mess, and to many voters the state — like him — has become the poster child for everything that’s failing in America. S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 11 June 2025 Northwestern is the poster child for this misalignment. Luis A. Nunes Amaral, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for poster child

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of poster child was in 1938

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Cite this Entry

“Poster child.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poster%20child. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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