posse

noun

pos·​se ˈpä-sē 

1

: a large group often with a common interest

2

: a body of persons summoned by a sheriff to assist in preserving the public peace usually in an emergency

3

: a group of people temporarily organized to make a search (as for a lost child)

4

: entourage sense 1

Did you know?

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.

Synonyms

• cortege
• cortège
• entourage
• following
• retinue
• suite
• tail
• train

Examples of posse in a Sentence

The sheriff and his posse rode out to look for the bandits.

I went to the game with my posse.

Recent Examples on the Web

The four of them remained sort of a posse of female senators who have supported one another. —Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 5 Nov. 2024

That summer at a raucous meeting in the Park District headquarters, next to the AC Nielsen Tennis Center, a posse of infuriated dog-park users spoke out. —Ben Ryder Howe, Curbed, 7 Aug. 2024

Jackson was 23 when she was cast as Erin Quinn, the ambitious, face-pulling, somewhat arrogant ringleader of a posse of teenagers in Northern Ireland at the tail end of the Troubles. —Shannon Keating, Vulture, 18 July 2024

The posse cut features Sexyy, GloRilla, and Lil Wayne, with additional vocals from Solange. —Marc Griffin, VIBE.com, 20 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin posse comitatus, literally, power or authority of the county

First Known Use

1645, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Kids Definition

posse

noun

pos·​se ˈpäs-ē 

1

: a group of people called upon by a sheriff for help (as in pursuit of a criminal)

2

: a number of people organized to make a search (as for a lost child)