ostensibly adv : from appearances alone; "irrigation often produces bumper crops from apparently desert land"; "the child is seemingly healthy but the doctor is concerned"; "had been ostensibly frank as to his purpose while really concealing it"-Thomas Hardy; "on the face of it the problem seems minor" [syn: apparently, seemingly, on the face of it]

English

Etymology

From ostensible < ostensible < ostensus, past participle of ostendō ‘I show’, from ob ‘before’ + tendō ‘I stretch out’.

Pronunciation

• italbrac RP /ɒsˈtɛnsɪbli/ or
• italbrac US /ɑːsˈtɛnsəbli/

Adverb

1. seemingly, apparently, on the surface

   A bedroom is ostensibly the safest room in the house, but many parents started to think differently and install better window-security features when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her own bedroom one night.

Synonyms

• italbrac seemingly: apparently, arguably, at first blush, seemingly

Related terms

• ostensible
• ostensive

Translations

allegedly, apparently, arrantly, artificially, as a cover, as a pretext, as an excuse, as it seems, at first sight, avowedly, blatantly, boldly, clearly, conspicuously, demonstrably, erroneously, evidently, externally, factitiously, falsely, flagrantly, for public consumption, for the record, glaringly, in name only, manifestly, markedly, nominally, notably, noticeably, notoriously, obtrusively, obviously, on the surface, ostensively, outstandingly, outwardly, patently, plainly, plausibly, prima facie, professedly, prominently, pronouncedly, purportedly, saliently, seemingly, spuriously, staringly, strikingly, superficially, synthetically, to all appearances, to all seeming, to the eye, truthlessly, ungenuinely, unnaturally, untruly, unveraciously