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poseurs

noun

plural of poseur
as in charlatans
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 poseurs At the party backstage, one of the local opening acts was having a food fight with the poseurs and celebrity curiosity seekers. — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 In place of San Francisco’s decaying arts bohemia of poseurs and charlatans, they can be said to be creating an alternate bohemia. — Michael Bernick, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poseurs
  1. charlatans
  2. pretenders
  3. copycats
  4. fakers
  5. imitators
  6. impostors
  7. mountebanks
  8. phonies
Noun
  • Ours is not a society that loathes charlatans; look who’s running things.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2026
  • In place of San Francisco’s decaying arts bohemia of poseurs and charlatans, they can be said to be creating an alternate bohemia.
    — Michael Bernick, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Definition of charlatans
Noun
  • The schedule is forgivable, even by ACC standards, but a rematch on the road against Notre Dame will separate the Canes as contenders or pretenders.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 28 July 2026
  • Now, hardship seems to be an end in itself, a battle scar or badge of honor that distinguishes true backpackers from mere pretenders.
    — Tim Brinkhof, Time, 4 May 2026
Definition of pretenders
Noun
  • Successful brands such as Buc-ee’s, for example, can create customer familiarity that might spur copycats looking for shortcuts to gain market share.
    — Patrik Jonsson, Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The success that the Canadiens, Wild, Senators, Mammoth and Hurricanes have enjoyed with those above deals has, understandably, created some copycats.
    — James Mirtle, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of copycats
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 fakers
Noun
  • The Dadaists used this gleefully and compulsively (see René Clair and Francis Picabia’s wacky Entr’Acte); so, famously, did Hideo Nakata in Y2K hit The Ring and countless imitators.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Few people on the continent seem to recognize that multibillion investments by US companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Amazon in space, and their many imitators in China, are radically transforming spaceflight.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of imitators
Noun
  • In this scam, imposters send you an email or text, pretending to be your hotel.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Few imposters have been quite as easy to spot as Terran Empire Spock, however, whose trademark goatee is something of a giveaway.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of impostors
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
Definition of mountebanks
Noun
  • Just as Moby-Dick is canonically about whales, Catcher is canonically about phonies.
    — Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026
  • At Dodger Stadium at the end of April, Crow-Amstrong also had to deal with the consequences of his actions — ripping Los Angeles Dodgers fans for being phonies in a Chicago magazine article that went viral.
    — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 22 May 2026
Definition of phonies

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poseurs
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Cite this Entry

“Poseurs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poseurs. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

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