posed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of pose.

   He posed as a tourist to avoid drawing attention to himself.

   The new regulations have posed real difficulties for small businesses.

   Note

   One spelling covers both past forms, so the auxiliary does the telling: she posed, she has posed, it was posed. The verb's meanings split by what follows. Posed a question or posed a threat takes a direct object. Posed as takes a role being falsely assumed. Posed for a portrait takes none. A passive like the problem was posed is the verb; a posed photograph is the adjective for an arranged picture.

2. 2
   adjective

   Arranged in a deliberate, fixed position, typically for a photograph or portrait rather than caught naturally.

   The portrait felt too posed to capture anything of his real character.

   Magazine covers tend to feature carefully posed models under perfect lighting.

   Similarstaged, contrived, artificial, stiff, arranged

   Oppositecandid, natural, spontaneous, unposed

   Note

   Frequently it joins with another word that tells how the figure is held, and such pairs are hyphenated before a noun. On its own it often carries a faint criticism. A posed picture is set up rather than caught, so calling a portrait too posed means it feels stiff and staged rather than natural.

3. 3
   verb

   Alternative spelling of supposed. Nonstandard, imitating casual speech that drops the first syllable.

   "We were posed to get paid on Friday," one of the workers complained.

   "That ain't how it's posed to work," he grumbled.

   Note

   A clipped spelling that drops the first syllable of supposed, and it does its work mainly in the idiom supposed to. Because it looks identical to the past of pose, it can mislead: the delivery was posed to arrive does not mean anyone set the delivery a task, only that it was expected. In careful writing, the full spelling supposed avoids the stumble.

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