postures

Noun

posture (countable and uncountable, plural postures)

1. The way a person holds and positions their body.
   • As if that whatsoever god who leads him
     Were slily crept into his human powers,
     And gave him graceful posture.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
2. A situation or condition.
   • Even as I was reading these fables of my millions, there lay on the desk before me a statement of the exact posture of my affairs […]1905, David Graham Phillips, The Deluge
3. One's attitude or the social or political position one takes towards an issue or another person.
   • ...that is, their Forts, Garrisons, and Guns upon the Frontiers of their Kingdomes; and continuall Spyes upon their neighbours; which is a posture of War.1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
4. (rare) The position of someone or something relative to another; position; situation.
   • The Moon beheld in any posture, in respect of the Sun and us, sheweth us its superficies ... always equally clear.1661, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World

See all 7 meanings of posture