Noun

The social, non-verbal behaviours (such as body language and facial expressions) that are characteristic of a person.

The man's demeanor made others suspicious of his intentions.

A confident demeanor is crucial for persuading others.

* {{quote-book, a. 1587, , Historie of England, section=Book III citation

, passage=At this present (saith he) certeine princes of Britaine, procuring by ambassadors and dutifull demeanors the amitie of the emperour Augustus, haue offered in the capitoll vnto the gods presents or gifts, and haue ordeined the whole Ile in a manner to be appertinent, proper, and familiar to the Romans.}}

* {{quote-book, 1993, editor=John J. Fay, chapter=Interrogation: The Kinesics Technique, , Encyclopedia of Security Management, isbn=0750696605 citation

, passage=Demeanors' that are apologetic and overly polite are inherently contradictory to ' demeanors that exhibit fear and anger.}}

Noun

(en noun)

The way a person holds and positions their body.

* 1609, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

As if that whatsoever god who leads him / Were slily crept into his human powers, / And gave him graceful posture .

* 1689 (or earlier), Aphra Behn, Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister

...walking in a most dejected posture , without a band, unbraced, his arms a-cross his open breast, and his eyes bent to the floor;

* 1895, Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture . It is most indecorous.

A situation or condition.

* 1905, David Graham Phillips, The Deluge

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...

* 1910, H.G. Wells, The History of Mr Polly

Uncle Jim stopped amazed. His brain did not instantly rise to the new posture of things.

One's attitude or the social or political position one takes towards an issue or another person.

* 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

...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.

* 1912, G.K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

But it is not true, no sane person can call it true, that man as a whole in his general attitude towards the world, in his posture towards death or green fields, towards the weather or the baby, will be wise to cultivate dissatisfaction.

(rare) The position of someone or something relative to another; position; situation.

* 1661, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World

The Moon beheld in any posture , in respect of the Sun and us, sheweth us its superficies ... always equally clear.