attitude

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈæt.ɪ.tʃuːd/, US /ˈæt̬.ə.tuːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French attitude (17th century),^[2][3] from Italian attitudine (“fitness, disposition, posture”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin aptitudinem (“fitness”),^[2][3] from Latin aptus “joined, fitted”,^[3][5] the source of apt, and it is a doublet of aptitude.^[3][2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that the Italian meaning was influenced by atto “act”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the fine arts, the posture of a figure in a statue or painting: 1668, introduced by John Evelyn,^[6][3][4] 1695 in Barnhart's quotation from Dryden's translation of Du Fresnoy.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Defoe extended it in 1725 to a posture of the body implying a mental state,^[3][6][2] and it was used figuratively of things from 1744.^[6] In dancing a posture, a form of arabesque, is from 1721.^[6] Carlyle extended it in 1837 to settled behaviour that reflects feeling or opinion,^[3][2][6] and Herbert Spencer's attitude of mind is from 1862.^[3][6] Barnhart notes that these later meanings had all belonged earlier to aptitude, “disposition, likelihood”.^[3] The orientation of an aircraft is from 1910.^[6] Connotations of being antagonistic or uncooperative developed in slang by 1962.^[2] Johnson in 1755 defined it only as “the posture or action in which a statue or painted figure is placed”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1668 – posture in art.^[6][3]
• 1721 – in dancing.^[6]
• 1725 – a bodily posture.^[3][6]
• 1837 – a settled manner of acting.^[3][6]
• 1862 – attitude of mind.^[3][6]
• 1910 – of aircraft.^[6]
• 1962 – antagonism.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A way of thinking or feeling about something; a disposition: a positive attitude.
2. A position of the body, or a way of carrying oneself; a posture.
3. (informal) An uncooperative or defiant manner.
4. The orientation of an aircraft or spacecraft relative to a reference line or its direction of motion.
5. (ballet) A position in which one leg is raised behind with the knee bent.

Word family

• attitudinal
• attitudinarian
• attitudinize

Related words

• aptitude
• apt
• adapt

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, called attitude more artistic than posture, and often affected, whence attitudinizing.^[2]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.