posse

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 2, 2024 is: posse \PAH-see\ noun

A posse is a group of friends, or a group of people who are gathered together for a particular purpose. Posse also refers to a group of people who were gathered together by a sheriff in the past to help search for a criminal.

// He and his posse met after school to catch the newly released sequel to their favorite movie.

// A posse of photographers waited outside the restaurant when they heard that the actress was spotted inside.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posse)

Examples:

“‘Kill Bill’ meets James Bond in the video, in which Swift fights against and with a posse of stars such as Selena Gomez, Cindy Crawford and Zendaya. Don’t expect them to pop up in the movie but, on tour, Swift performed the No. 1 hit with a posse of fierce, hip-swiveling dancers who stepped into the stars’ kicks.” — Chris Hewitt, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 10 Oct. 2023

Did you know?

Posse started out in English as part of a term from [common law](https://www.britannica.com/topic/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](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reeve) (a medieval official) or [sheriff](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/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.