cool pose

noun

A tough, fearless, aloof attitude said to be adopted by black men as a coping mechanism to deal with racial oppression.

Meanings

nouncool pose (countable and uncountable, plural cool poses)

plural cool poses

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA tough, fearless, aloof attitude said to be adopted by black men as a coping mechanism to deal with racial oppression.

Origin

Coined in the 1990s by Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson in Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cool pose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cool%20pose

MLA

“cool pose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cool%20pose. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cool pose,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cool%20pose.

Source: cool pose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.