attitudinize
English edit
Etymology edit
From Italian attitudine (“attitude, pose, posture”) + English -ize (suffix forming verbs meaning ‘to do [something denoted by the word to which it is attached]’).[1] Attitudine is borrowed from Late Latin aptitūdinem, the accusative singular of aptitūdō (“fitness, aptitude”), from Latin aptus (“apt, proper; adapted, suitable”) (from apō (“to attach, connect; to fasten”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to attach, join; to fasten; to fit”)) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition or state).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌætɪˈtjuːdɪnaɪz/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˌætəˈtud(ɪ)nˌaɪz/, [-ɾə-]
- Hyphenation: at‧ti‧tud‧in‧ize
Verb edit
attitudinize (third-person singular simple present attitudinizes, present participle attitudinizing, simple past and past participle attitudinized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)
- (transitive)
- To cause (someone or something) to assume an attitude or pose; to pose, to posture.
- 1951, Hortense Calisher, “In Greenwich there are Many Gravelled Walks”, in In the Absence of Angels: Stories, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 14:
- In Greenwich, there were many gravelled walks, unshrubbed except for the nurses who dotted them, silent and attitudinized as trees.
- To give the appearance of, or make a show of, (something) by assuming an affected or exaggerated attitude.
- 1924, Gilbert Frankau, chapter 5, in Gerald Cranston’s Lady, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: The Century Co., →OCLC, section 1, page 54:
- While she, one hand on his arm, had been attitudinizing her dutiful gratitude, he—as she suddenly realized—had been deciding to rid her of Fordham [her estate manager]. No sentimentalizing, no attitudinizing there!
- To cause (someone or something) to assume an attitude or pose; to pose, to posture.
- (intransitive)
- To assume an attitude or pose, especially one which is affected, exaggerated, or unnatural; to posture, to posturize; also, to excessively practise adopting attitudes or poses.
- 1791, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, “[1784]”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume II, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 518:
- He had a great averſion to geſticulating in company. He called once to a gentleman vvho offended him in that point, "Don't attitudeniſe."
- 1808, [Hannah More], chapter IX, in Cœlebs in Search of a Wife. […], volume I, London: […] [Strahan and Preston] for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 107–108:
- Charlotte, who has the beſt voice, was brought out to ſing, but was placed a little behind, as her perſon is not quite perfect; Maria, who is the moſt pictureſque figure, was put to attitudinize at the harp, […]
- 1834 February, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Horatio Sparkins”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836, →OCLC, page 117:
- The elegant Sparkins attitudinized with admirable effect until the family had crossed the room.
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 223:
- His assistant clerk played well into his hands, and his assistant lady attetudenized with immense effect, playing comic muse, or tragic, as the case admitted.
- 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 183:
- I was the only one of our party who saw this grand sight; the others were attitudinizing, for the benefit of the long rank of young ladies who were promenading on the bank, and so they lost it.
- 1901, Joseph Conrad, Ford M. Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter 11, in The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 178:
- Radet was a cadaverous, weather-worn, passion-worn individual, badger-grey, and worked up into a grotesquely attitudinised fury of injured self-esteem
- (figurative) To create art, speak, or write in a manner which assumes affected, exaggerated, or unnatural attitudes.
- 1879, James Anthony Froude, chapter XIV, in Cæsar: A Sketch, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 194:
- In every line that he wrote Cicero was attitudinising for posterity, or reflecting on the effect of his conduct upon his interests or his reputation.
- 1953, Raymond Chandler, chapter 14, in The Long Goodbye, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published 1954, →OCLC, page 89:
- There was a short typewritten paragraph on it, no more. It read, "I do not care to be in love with myself and there is no longer anyone else for me to be in love with. Signed: Roger (F. Scott Fitzgerald) Wade. P.S. This is why I never finished The Last Tycoon." / "That mean anything to you, Mrs. Wade?" / "Just attitudinizing. He has always been a great admirer of Scott Fitzgerald. […]"
- To assume an attitude or pose, especially one which is affected, exaggerated, or unnatural; to posture, to posturize; also, to excessively practise adopting attitudes or poses.
Alternative forms edit
Derived terms edit
- attitudinisation, attitudinization
- attitudiniser, attitudinizer
- attitudinising, attitudinizing (adjective, noun)
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to give the appearance of, or make a show of (something) by assuming an affected or exaggerated attitude
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to assume an attitude or pose, especially one which is affected, exaggerated, or unnatural; to excessively practise adopting attitudes or poses — see also posture, posturize
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to create art, speak, or write in a manner which assumes affected, exaggerated, or unnatural attitudes
References edit
- ^ “attitudinize, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “attitudinize, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
