From French attitude, from Italian attitudine (“attitude, aptness”), from Medieval Latin aptitūdō (“aptitude”) and actitūdō (“acting, posture”), from Latin aptō and actitō. Doublet of aptitude.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈætɪˌt͡ʃuːd/, /ˈætɪˌtjuːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈætɪˌtud/, [ˈæɾɪˌtud]
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈatɪˌt͡ʃʉd/, /ˈatɪˌtjʉd/
• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /ˌatɪˈt͡ʃud/
• (Pakistan) IPA^(key): /ˈɛːtɪtˌjuːd/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: at‧ti‧tude
• Rhymes: -ætɪtjuːd

attitude (countable and uncountable, plural attitudes)

1. The position of the body or way of carrying oneself.

   Synonyms: posture, stance

   The ballet dancer walked with a graceful attitude.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara.[…], volume II, London: Richard Bentley,[…], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 145:

     The lamp stood on the table, and Carrara leant by the huge tome spread out before him; and opposite sat Beatrice, bending over her broidery—the small head, with its rich knot of gathered hair, so exquisitely placed—the slender figure, so graceful in its attitude.

2. (figurative) A disposition or state of mind.

   Don't give me your negative attitude.

   You've got a nice attitude today.

   • 1956 September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, in Railway Magazine, page 638:

     The guard was paying no attention whatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards.

   • 1977, Bar-Kays, “Attitudes”, in Flying High on Your Love:

     It's up to your attitude / To show the real you / 'Cause it's in your eyes, love / Here where the truth resides, oh-woah-ho

3. (Canada, US, UK, Philippines, informal) Unpleasant behavior.

   He doesn't take attitude from anybody.

   I asked the waiter for a clean fork and all I got was attitude.

   • 2004, “Drop It Like It's Hot”, performed by Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell Williams:

     And if a nigga get a attitude / Pop it like it's hot

   • 2011, Mayer Hawthorne, “The Walk”, in How Do You Do:

     I thought you were fine, so fine / But your shitty fuckin' attitude / Has got me changing my mind, yeah

4. (aeronautics, nautical, engineering) The orientation of a vehicle or other object relative to the horizon, direction of motion, other objects, etc.

   Synonyms: trim, orientation

   The airliner had to land with a nose-up attitude after the incident.

   • 1982, Thomas Charles Gillmer, Bruce Johnson, Introduction to naval architecture, page 286:

     The stern planes are located well aft of the center of gravity of the submarine and their primary purpose is attitude (trim) control

   • 1997, Paul J. Ciolino, Grace Elting Castle, Advanced Forensic Civil Investigations, page 109:

     Scratches should be closely analyzed to determine the attitudes of the boats at the time of initial contact.

   • 1999, Smart Materials Structures of Systems, →ISBN, page 307:

     The main aim of the development of the smart antenna model is to stabilize attitude of the antenna which is mounted on a platform or host structure.

5. (ballet) A position similar to an arabesque, but with the raised leg bent at the knee.
   • 2007, Gayle Kassing, History of Dance: An Interactive Arts Approach, page 134:

     Blasis was a man of many accomplishments. He invented the ballet position of attitude and codified the ballet technique of that time, distinguishing three types of dancers: the serious, the demi-caractère, and the comic dancer.

attitude (third-person singular simple present attitudes, present participle attituding, simple past and past participle attituded)

1. To assume or to place in a particular position or orientation; to pose.
   • 1823, Felix M'Donogh, The Hermit Abroad, volume 1, page 122:

     […] nymphs of quality, formed for the offices of love and of conversation, are attituded about her, each star set as it were in surrounding satellites of admirers;[…]

   • 1837, William E. Burton, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 1, page 123:

     Attituded like an inspired curling-tongs, leaning back heavily on his right leg, and throwing forward his left, his arm elevated to a level with his shoulder, the clenched fist grasping a brush that might have been available in […]

   • 1971, Advances in Astronautical Sciences, American Astronautical Society, Volume 29, Part 2, page 395:

     The attituded control gyro package, electronics, APS gas supply, and the preentry electronics are mounted internally, and are distributed circumferentially at the major ring.

2. To express an attitude through one's posture, bearing, tone of voice, etc.
   • 2002, Wayne Normis, The Last Street Fighter, page 33:

     He attituded his way over to me, got up close, and just stood there looking at me, trying to appear threatening.

   • 2008, Yvonne Müller, "The Absentee": an Interpretation - an Analysis of Maria Edgeworth's Novel, page 12:

     The typical characteristic attituded toward the English is coldness.

   • 2010, R. Scott, Nine Months and a Year Later, page 82:

     I was really tripping, 'cause this nigga had the nerve to be attituded up when he was the one always doing something he had no business doing.

• “attitude”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “attitude”, in The Century Dictionary[…], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• attuited

Borrowed from Italian attitudine (“attitude, aptness”), from Medieval Latin aptitūdō (“aptitude”) (whence French aptitude) and actitūdō (“acting, posture”).

• IPA^(key): /a.ti.tyd/

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attitude f (plural attitudes)

1. attitude, position

• “attitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

attitude f (plural attitudes)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of atitude
   • 1933, Graciliano Ramos, chapter XXVI, in Cahetés‎^[1], 1st edition, Rio de Janeiro: Schmidt, page 184:

     Puz-me a tremer com violencia e a bater os dentes. Percebi que aquella attitude me condemnava e esforcei-me por cerrar os queixos e dominar os musculos, o que não consegui.

     I started to shiver violently and gnashing my teeth. I realized that doing so doomed me and made an effort to close my jaw and take control of my muscles, which I could not do.