poster child

noun

1

: a child who has a disease and is pictured in posters to solicit funds for combating the disease

2

: a person having a public image that is identified with something (such as a cause)

Examples of poster child in a Sentence

She was a stirring speaker and activist and soon became the poster child of the antiwar movement.

Recent Examples on the Web

Whereas Io is the poster child for this mechanism, tidal heating also heats many other worlds, including Io’s neighbor, the icy moon Europa, where the heat is thought to sustain a subterranean saltwater ocean. —Robin Andrews, Wired News, 15 June 2025

Newsom’s California is an unmitigated mess, and to many voters the state — like him — has become the poster child for everything that’s failing in America. —S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 11 June 2025

Northwestern is the poster child for this misalignment. —Luis A. Nunes Amaral, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2025

For a long time, McIlroy was essentially the poster child of the PGA Tour. —Savannah Leigh Richardson, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for poster child

• domiciled
• reconciled
• undefiled
• beguiled
• brainchild
• compiled
• defiled
• exiled
• grandchild
• profiled
• refiled
• reviled