Posting: A Job Advert, an Overseas Job, and a Message
A posting is an advertised vacancy, an assignment to a place, or something published online. All come from post meaning a position.
A posting is an advertised vacancy, an assignment to a particular place, or a message published online. The link is the older sense of *post* as a position where someone is stationed — from Latin *positum*, placed. A diplomat's posting abroad and a job posting on a website are the same word doing different jobs.
- An advertised vacancy. *A job posting.*
- An assignment to a place. *A posting to Nairobi.*
- A published message. *A posting on the forum.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | posting | An overseas posting. |
| Plural | postings | Recent postings. |
| Verb | post | Post the notice. |
| Noun | post | A senior post. |
| Related | posted | Posted to Berlin. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She applied for the posting in Lisbon.An assignment abroad.
- The job posting closes on Friday.Mainly American; Britain says advertisement or vacancy.
- He deleted the posting an hour later.Online.
The three posts in English
- Post — a position or station, from Latin *positum*
- Post — the mail service, from Italian *posta*, a relay station
- Post — an upright of wood or metal, from Latin *postis*
- Posting — belongs to the first sense
- Postal — belongs to the second
From *post*, a station or position, from Italian *posto*, from Latin *positum*, placed. The online sense arrived with bulletin boards in the 1980s.
Job posting or vacancy?
Posting is American; British organisations advertise a vacancy or a post.
Are the postal and positional posts related?
Distantly. Both go back to Latin, but the mail sense came through the relay stations where riders and horses were posted.