Definition

1. Noun:
   • A particularly difficult or baffling question or problem: A "poser" is something that is hard to solve or understand, a puzzle.
   • A person who poses for a photographer, painter, or sculptor: A "poser" is a model, someone who sits or stands to be depicted in art.
   • A person who habitually pretends to be something they are not: A "poser" is someone who adopts a false attitude or identity to impress others.

Examples

• As a difficult question or problem:
  • The final exam question was a real poser; nobody could solve it.
  • Finding a solution to the traffic congestion is a real poser for city planners.
• As a model:
  • The artist hired a poser for the portrait session.
  • She worked as a poser for a famous sculptor.
• As someone who pretends:
  • He acts like a music expert, but he's just a poser who doesn't know the basics.
  • Don't be such a poser; just be yourself.

Advanced Usage

• "To be/stump someone with a poser": To present someone with a very difficult question.
  • The interviewer stumped the candidate with a real poser about ethics.

Variants and Related Words

• Pose (verb): To present or constitute (a problem or question); to sit or stand in a particular position, especially for a photograph or painting.
  • The question poses a serious challenge. (verb - presents)
  • She posed for the painting. (verb - modeled)
• Poseur (noun): A less common variant, specifically and almost exclusively used for the third meaning (a person who pretends).
  • He was dismissed as a mere poseur by the genuine artists.

Synonyms

• For a difficult question: Puzzle, conundrum, brain-teaser, stumper.
• For a model: Sitter, model, subject.
• For a pretender: Pretender, fake, fraud, phony, impostor.

Related Phrases

• "A real poser": An idiom emphasizing that something is a genuinely difficult problem.
  • This math equation is a real poser.

Noun

1. a particularly difficult or baffling question or problem
2. a person who poses for a photographer or painter or sculptor
   • the president didn't have time to be a model so the artist worked from photos
3. a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not