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Posse started out in English as part of a term from common law, posse comitatus, which in Medieval Latin translates as “power or authority of the county.” Posse comitatus referred to a group of citizens summoned by a reeve (a medieval official) or sheriff to preserve the public peace as allowed for by law. “Preserving the public peace” so often meant hunting down a supposed criminal that posse eventually came to refer to any group organized to make a search or embark on a mission, and today one may read about posses organized for search and rescue efforts. In even broader use it can refer to any group, period. Sometimes nowadays that group is a gang or a rock band but it can as easily be any group—of politicians, models, architects, tourists, children, or what have you—acting together for some shared purpose.
Examples of posse in a Sentence
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 May 2025
At Christiana, in Lancaster County, the posse was confronted by the fugitives themselves, backed by an armed resistance led by other African Americans.
—Matthew Karp, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025
The plucky little superdog drags Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, where he is treated by a posse of robots.
—ArsTechnica, 11 July 2025
There’s another practical roadblock: The U.S. is led by a billionaire president who has surrounded himself with a posse of billionaires, all of whom are likely to oppose wealth tax proposals.
—Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for posse
Cite this Entry
“Posse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posse. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.
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posse
noun
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