ostensible

CEFRC1

/ɒˈstɛns.ɪ.bəl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Appearing to be true or official, though possibly not so.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Appearing as such; being such in appearance; professed, supposed (rather than demonstrably true or real).

Examples

  • I do not understand Tom's ostensible contempt for the sartorial concerns of his peers.

  • Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Apparent, evident; meant for open display.

More examples

In context

  • The ostensible reason for his visit to New York was to see his mother, but the real reason was to get to the Yankees game the next day.

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank reason for the meeting was to discuss the budget, but really it was about layoffs.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Borrowed from French ostensible, formed with the suffix -ible, from Latin ostensus, the past participle of ostendō (“show”), itself from obs- (“in front of”) (akin to ob- (“in the way”)) + tendō (“stretch”) (akin to Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō)). Cf. also Medieval Latin ostensibilis.