attitude Look up attitude at Dictionary.com
1660s, via Fr. attitude (17c.), from It. attitudine "disposition, posture," also "aptness, promptitude," from L.L. aptitudinem (nom. aptitudo; see aptitude). Originally 17c. a technical term in art for the posture of a figure in a statue or painting; later generalized to "a posture of the body supposed to imply some mental state" (1725). Sense of "settled behavior reflecting feeling or opinion" is first recorded 1837. Connotations of "antagonistic and uncooperative" developed 1962 in slang.