Attitude

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: at=ti=tude

CIDE DICTIONARY

Attitude, n. [It. attitudine, LL. aptitudo, fr. L. aptus suited, fitted: cf. F. attitude. Cf. Aptitude.].

•  The posture, action, or disposition of a figure or a statue.  [1913 Webster]
•  The posture or position of a person or an animal, or the manner in which the parts of his body are disposed; position assumed or studied to serve a purpose; as, a threatening attitude; an attitude of entreaty.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: Position as indicating action, feeling, or mood; as, in times of trouble let a nation preserve a firm attitude; one's mental attitude in respect to religion.  [1913 Webster]

  "The attitude of the country was rapidly changing."  [1913 Webster]

  "'T is business of a painter in his choice of attitudes (posituræ) to foresee the effect and harmony of the lights and shadows."  [1913 Webster]

  "Never to keep the body in the same posture half an hour at a time."  [1913 Webster]

To strike an attitude, to take an attitude for mere effect.

Syn. -- Attitude, Posture.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Attitude, n.
1 a a settled opinion or way of thinking. b behaviour reflecting this (I don't like his attitude).
2 a a bodily posture. b a pose adopted in a painting or a play, esp. for dramatic effect (strike an attitude).
3 the position of an aircraft, spacecraft, etc., in relation to specified directions.

Idiom

attitude of mind a settled way of thinking.

Derivative

attitudinal adj.

Etymology

F f. It. attitudine fitness, posture, f. LL aptitudo -dinis f. aptus fit

THESAURUS

Attitude

air, approach, aspect, assumption, azimuth, bearing, bearings, bent, bias, carriage, celestial navigation, climate of opinion, color, common belief, community sentiment, conceit, concept, conception, conclusion, consensus gentium, consideration, dead reckoning, demeanor, disposition, estimate, estimation, ethos, exposure, eye, feeling, fix, frontage, general belief, idea, impression, inclination, judgment, lay, leaning, lie, lights, line of position, mind, mystique, notion, observation, opinion, orientation, personal judgment, pilotage, point of view, popular belief, port, pose, position, position line, posture, predilection, prejudice, prepossession, presence, presumption, prevailing belief, public belief, public opinion, radio bearing, reaction, sentiment, set, sight, stance, stand, tendency, theory, thinking, thought, view, viewpoint, way of thinking

ROGET THESAURUS

Attitude

Circumstance

N circumstance, situation, phase, position, posture, attitude, place, point, terms, regime, footing, standing, status, occasion, juncture, conjunctive, contingency, predicament, emergence, emergency, exigency, crisis, pinch, pass, push, occurrence, turning point, bearings, how the land lies, surroundings, context, environment, location, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), causation, attribution, circumstantial, given, conditional, provisional, critical, modal, contingent, incidental, adventitious, limitative, in the circumstances, under the circumstances, the circumstances, conditions, thus, in such wise, accordingly, that being the case, such being the case, in view of the circumstances, that being so, sith, since, seeing that, as matters stand, as things go, as times go, conditionally, provided, if, in case, if so, if so be, if it be so, depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, if it so happen, if it so turn out, in the event of, in such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event, provisionally, unless, without, according to circumstances, according to the occasion, as it may happen, as it may turn out, as it may be, as the case may be, as the wind blows, pro re nata, yet are my sins not those of circumstance.

Situation

N situation, position, locality, locale, status, latitude and longitude, footing, standing, standpoint, post, stage, aspect, attitude, posture, pose, environment, surroundings (location), circumjacence, place, site, station, seat, venue, whereabouts, ground, bearings, spot, topography, geography, chorography, map, situate, situated, local, topical, topographical, in situ, in loco, here and there, passim, hereabouts, thereabouts, whereabouts, in place, here, there, in such and such surroundings, in such and such environs, in such and such entourage, amidst such and such surroundings, amidst such and such environs, amidst such and such entourage.

Form

N form, figure, shape, conformation, configuration, make, formation, frame, construction, cut, set, build, trim, cut of one's jib, stamp, type, cast, mold, fashion, contour, structure, plasmature, feature, lineament, turn, phase, posture, attitude, pose, morphism, isomorphism, forming, formation, figuration, efformation, sculpture, plasmation, formed, plastic, fictile, formative, fluid, plasmic, isomorphous, pleomorphic, protean, changeable.