poseur

noun

Definition of poseurnext
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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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of poseur The nature of the American political system propagates scads of lawyers and poseurs who blather on endlessly, promising everything and delivering little. — Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026 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
  1. pretender
  2. charlatan
  3. imitator
  4. impostor
  5. faker
  6. copycat
  7. mountebank
  8. impersonator
Noun
  • At least one of them will in the coming weeks likely be exposed as a pretender.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 July 2026
  • To add to the challenge, Brady also left his mark on the latest pretender to his crown.
    — Peter Carline, New York Times, 26 June 2026
Definition of pretender
Noun
  • Others estimate that $500 billion in federal spending is diverted by charlatans each year.
    — Las Vegas Review-Journal, Twin Cities, 7 June 2026
  • To this day, a portion of the left-wing Democratic elite views Obama as a charlatan who hoodwinked their voters into supporting him.
    — Ben Smith, semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Definition of charlatan
Noun
  • But the arrival of Buc-ee's supercharged the trend and spawned imitators like Wally's, which has three 50,000-square-foot locations in the Midwest, with plans for more.
    — Kevin Williams, CNBC, 2 July 2026
  • The frontier labs keep shipping the next capability while the imitators are still training on the last one, and the value keeps accruing to whoever is ahead rather than to whoever copied the leader's previous answers.
    — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
Definition of imitator
Noun
  • Such impostor scams, when a criminal pretends to be a legitimate business or even a government official, are proliferating and morphing at an accelerated rate as artificial intelligence makes impersonation easier than ever.
    — Bill Lukitsch, Boston Herald, 13 July 2026
  • Heroes have to figure out who's who, what's going on, and if longtime friends are actual allies or extraterrestrial imposters.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 8 July 2026
Definition of impostor
Noun
  • 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
Definition of faker
Noun
  • Across the region, law enforcement officials are trying to head off copycats of the Newport event over concerns of possible theft, vandalism and violence.
    — Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2026
  • Over the past year, a wave of Strategy copycats have stuffed public companies with crypto in a bid to lift their share prices, but that trade has largely lost steam.
    — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 6 July 2026
Definition of copycat
Noun
  • 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
  • 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
Definition of mountebank
Noun
  • While investment fraud losses may be deductible, according to an IRS memorandum issued in March 2025, money lost to other scams — such as impersonator or romance scams — is not, experts said.
    — Sarah Agostino, CNBC, 18 July 2026
  • Prior to her stint on Drag Race, Chad performed as a Cher impersonator and continued those performances after the show.
    — Francesca Gariano, PEOPLE, 18 July 2026
Definition of impersonator

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poseur
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Cite this Entry

“Poseur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poseur. Accessed 22 Jul. 2026.

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