Ostensible

Quick meaning: Ostensible is an adjective meaning Apparent, evident; meant for open display.

Meaning

Apparent, evident; meant for open display.

More Meanings

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

Example Sentences

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.

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.

The ostensible reason this provision was added to a bill on international trade is to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a grass-roots campaign that seeks to pressure Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians.

In witch-trials the conflict was officially defined as between the accused and God, or between the accused and the Catholic (later Protestant) church, as God's earthly representative. […] Behind the ostensible conflict of the witch-trial lay the usual conflicts of social class, values, and human relationships.

Synonyms for ostensible

Depending on context, synonyms include superficial, apparent, counterfeit, imitative, seeming, ostensive.

Antonyms for ostensible

Common opposites include ulterior.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include ostensive, seeming, apparent, imitative, superficial, counterfeit.

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