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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
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 10 Feb. 2025
After the protesters left, a small posse of police remained well into the rest of the morning.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 5 Feb. 2025
The array of colors along the horizon, even as the posse slumps out of the restaurant, heads hung low, unable to find their mark, wind gusts thrashing against them.
—Rachel Sonis, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
As Kraft and his posse grimly passed the entrance, the last stragglers of the losing Patriots were heading into the room — the owner and players going in opposite directions and the same direction all at once.
—Steve Buckley, The Athletic, 25 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for posse
Cite this Entry
“Posse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posse. Accessed 28 Feb. 2025.
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posse
noun
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