posture
n. C / Un. the way you hold your body when you are standing or sitting. Good posture helps you avoid back pain and look more confident.
n. the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting. Often used in medical or ergonomic contexts to describe spinal alignment.
Sitting at a desk all day can ruin your posture.
The yoga instructor reminded the students to maintain a straight posture to allow for better breathing during the exercise.
While her verbal responses remained polite and neutral, her rigid posture and crossed arms suggested a deep-seated defensiveness that contradicted her words.
Borrowed from Middle French posture, from Italian postura, from Latin positūra (“position, situation”). Doublet of positura.
Uncountable when referring to the general quality of body alignment; countable when referring to a specific physical pose.