Putative

/ˈpjuː.tə.tɪv/ · adjective

Meaning

Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; generally assumed..

Definitions by Sense

1. Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; generally assumed.
2. Accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.
3. Alleged, purported, ostensible, professed.
4. (sometimes proscribed) Prospective, potential, proposed.

Example Sentences

Just as Prince Sihanouk is fronting for the Khmer Rouge today . . . so also was he their putative leader from 1970 to 1975.

If they are in fact sound, then, of course, desire-utilitarianism need not account for the putative wrongness of infanticide.

This independence is still presupposed as a condition of agency; but this presupposition leaves in place the epistemic possibility that our putative freedom is illusory, that we are automata rather than agents.

But Dejouany, like many others, was seduced by the charm and putative brilliance of this man of vision and handed over the reins to Messier in 1996.

In answer to the objection, that if a thing is only putative, it is fictitious

[T]he lady . . . insisted upon going herself, requesting me to mind for a second the baby. . . . lo! the baby awoke and stared at me with a pair of big frightened eyes, which the little thing in another moment rolled in all directions, as if in search of its putative mother.

The government submits there is no inconsistency between the jury's putative conclusion that Lendmann did not intend to distribute the charged 3.59 grams of methamphetamine and its clear conclusions that Lendmann knowingly manufactured the same and knowingly attempted to make a kilogram more.

You have the putative assumption, because everybody is interrogated, that everybody who has entered is heterosexual.

Synonyms for putative

Antonyms for putative

Related Words

Word Forms

• more putative
• most putative

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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