From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Attitude \At"ti*tude\, noun [It. attitudine, LL. aptitudo, fr. L. aptus suited, fitted: cf. F. attitude. Cf. {Aptitude}.]
1. (Paint. & Sculp.) The posture, action, or disposition of a figure or a statue.
2. 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.
3. 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.
The attitude of the country was rapidly changing. --J. R. Green.
{To strike an attitude}, to take an attitude for mere effect.
Usage: Both of these words describe the visible disposition of the limbs. Posture relates to their position merely; attitude refers to their fitness for some specific object. The object of an attitude is to set forth exhibit some internal feeling; as, attitude of wonder, of admiration, of grief, etc. It is, therefore, essentially and designedly expressive. Its object is the same with that of gesture; viz., to hold forth and represent. Posture has no such design. If we speak of posture in prayer, or the posture of devotion, it is only the natural disposition of the limbs, without any intention to show forth or exhibit.
'T is business of a painter in his choice of attitudes (positur[ae]) to foresee the effect and harmony of the lights and shadows. --Dryden.
Never to keep the body in the same posture half an hour at a time. --Bacon.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways; "he had the attitude that work was fun" [syn: {mental attitude}]
2: position or arrangement of the body and its limbs; "he assumed an attitude of surrender" [syn: {position}, {posture}]
3: a theatrical pose created for effect; "the actor struck just the right attitude"
4: position of aircraft or spacecraft relative to a frame of reference (the horizon or direction of motion)
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
79 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
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