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Pose vs Possess - What's the difference?

pose | possess |

In transitive terms the difference between pose and possess

is that pose is to constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.) while possess is to take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.

As a noun pose

is common cold, head cold; catarrh.

As an adjective posé

is standing still, with all the feet on the ground.

pose

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pose, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) common cold, head cold; catarrh
  • * 1586 , W. Harrison
    • Now have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) posen, from (etyl) ; influenced by (etyl) ponere.

    Verb

    (pos)
  • To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.
    • To pose a model for a picture.
  • Ask; set (a test, quiz, riddle, etc.).
  • To constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.).
  • * 2010 , Noam Chomsky, The Iranian threat , Z Magazine, vol 23, number 7:
    • Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 2 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Bulgaria 0-3 England , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Rooney's United team-mate Chris Smalling was given his debut at right-back and was able to adjust to the international stage in relatively relaxed fashion as Bulgaria barely posed a threat of any consequence.}}
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
    • The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad: in one characteristically slick and chilling Isis video – entitled “a message to the Jordanian tyrant” – a smiling, long-haired young man in black pats the explosive belt round his waist as he burns his passport and his fellow fighters praise the memory of Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
  • Assume or maintain a pose; strike an attitude.
  • * Thackeray
    • He posed before her as a hero.
  • (obsolete) To interrogate; to question.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • She posed him and sifted him.
  • (obsolete) To question with a view to puzzling; to embarrass by questioning or scrutiny; to bring to a stand.
  • * Barrow
    • A question wherewith a learned Pharisee thought to pose and puzzle him.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Position, posture, arrangement (especially of the human body).
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway,
  • Affectation.
    • Derived terms
    * posable
    Related terms
    * dispose * suppose * superpose * impose * expose * oppose * propose * prepose

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) posen, a combination of aphetic forms of (etyl) aposen and opposen. More at appose, oppose.

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (pos)
  • (obsolete) To ask (someone) questions; to interrogate.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Luke II:
    • And hit fortuned that after .iii. dayes, they founde hym in the temple sittinge in the middes of the doctours, both hearynge them, and posinge them.
  • to puzzle, non-plus, or embarrass with difficult questions.
  • To perplex or confuse (someone).
    • Derived terms
    * poser

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * English intransitive verbs English transitive verbs ----

    possess

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To have; to have ownership of.
  • * 1818 , (Mary Shelley), (Frankenstein) , Volume 3, Chapter 7:
    • [...], the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds, which hardly any later friend can obtain.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
  • To take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.
  • To vest ownership in (someone); to give someone power or knowledge; to acquaint; to inform.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
    • LEONATO. I cannot bid you bid my daughter live;
    That were impossible; but, I pray you both,
    Possess the people in Messina here
    How innocent she died;
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Twelfth Night) , II, 3
    • [Sir Toby Belch] Possess' us, '''possess' us ; tell us something of him.

    Quotations

    *

    Synonyms

    * seise * (qualities or characteristics) inhold