as in pretender
disapproving
a person who dresses or behaves in a deceptive way that is meant to impress other people
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Recent Examples of poseur
To be seen as a poseur or a phony—a person who affects rather than is—violates some nebulous code of acceptable self-cultivation.
—
Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2025
Nobody made videos in those primitive days, nobody except weird Brit poseurs and art freaks and thirsty postpunk eccentrics, so the network was forced to play them all.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2025
Godard might have come across as a species of poseur – a pretentious, quote-spouting mountebank – but his way of seeing was genuinely new.
—Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Nov. 2025
There’s also a conspiracy that catches fire on social media to make Superman look like a poseur.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for poseur
Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2025
Nobody made videos in those primitive days, nobody except weird Brit poseurs and art freaks and thirsty postpunk eccentrics, so the network was forced to play them all.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2025
Godard might have come across as a species of poseur – a pretentious, quote-spouting mountebank – but his way of seeing was genuinely new.
—Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Nov. 2025
There’s also a conspiracy that catches fire on social media to make Superman look like a poseur.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for poseur
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poseur
Noun
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The Cult of the Beaver has to fend off pretenders.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
13 Jan. 2026
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Advertisement Iranians deserve better than the Pahlavi pretender.—
Bobby Ghosh,
Time,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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First up was Ben Shapiro, who described Tucker Carlson and others as grifters and charlatans, guilty of misleading their audiences with falsehoods and conspiracy theories.—
Jonathan J. Cooper,
Fortune,
19 Dec. 2025
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Of course, there is also plenty of Trump flattery along with paeans to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his cockamamie make-America-sick-again agenda, as one medical charlatan nods to another.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
10 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Although Rudolph’s concrete architecture was more complex and soulful than that of many of his imitators, that difference was often overlooked.—
Anthony Paletta,
Curbed,
13 Jan. 2026
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The film introduced new slang into the lexicon, repopularized surf rock, and spawned dozens of fast-talking imitators.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His character wakes up from an accident to find out his mother has been replaced by an imposter.—
Rhonda Richford,
Footwear News,
21 Jan. 2026
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In such places – and especially when the would-be ally’s role is highly visible and entails heavy responsibility – people are vulnerable to impostor feelings.—
John M. LaVelle,
The Conversation,
9 Dec. 2025
Noun
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To tell the truly venomous from the fakers, there are a couple details to help distinguish the two.—
Kirsten Fiscus,
Nashville Tennessean,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As mentioned earlier, the NFL is a copycat league which makes this story even better.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
17 Jan. 2026
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And then there’s Aster, a Hyperliquid copycat that’s closely aligned with the crypto exchange Binance.—
Ben Weiss,
Fortune,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Good afternoon and welcome to Con Con, the convention for swindlers, mountebanks, and the people who love them.—
Henry Alford,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
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Godard might have come across as a species of poseur – a pretentious, quote-spouting mountebank – but his way of seeing was genuinely new.—
Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
13 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The movie sees Jackman portraying a Diamond impersonator, and the rocker’s smashes are featured throughout Song Sung Blue.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
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Few people would consider a career as a regional, impersonator-style vocalist to be worthwhile; even fewer would, having attained such a career, try to make themselves into something more than a novelty act.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Poseur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poseur. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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