Supposititious

/səˌpɒzɪˈtɪʃəs/ · adjective

Meaning

(obsolete) Spurious; substituted for the genuine, counterfeit; fake..

Definitions by Sense

1. (obsolete) Spurious; substituted for the genuine, counterfeit; fake.
2. (obsolete) Imaginary; fictitious, pretended to exist.
3. (archaic) Supposed or hypothetical.

Example Sentences

[...] the said pretended Testament was supposititious, & contriued by such as meant to defraud both the heires female of the said king Henrie the 8. as well as these of his eldest sister [...]

But it may bee some will here obiect and say; that the Haire, and Loue-lockes which they weare, are supposititious, false, and counterfeit, and not their owne: therefore they violate no Law of God, nor Nature, since the long Haire they vse, is but borrowed, and aduenticious, their owne being short enough: perchance, but little or none at all.

[T]he queen [Mary of Modena] was brought to bed of a ſon, who was baptiſed by the name of James. This would, if any thing could at that time, have ſerved to eſtabliſh him on the throne; but so great was the animoſity againſt him, that a ſtory was propagated that the child was ſuppoſititious, and brought to the queen's apartment in a warming-pan.

These supposititious children of the semigods are called Umskiptingar; whence nurses and midwives were strictly enjoined to watch constantly, and to hold the infant firmly in their arms, till it had had the benefit of baptism, lest they should furnish any opportunity for such a change.

1836, Edgar Allan Poe, Review of Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay, and other Poems and Fitz-Greene Halleck, Alnwick Castle, with other Poems in Southern Literary Messenger, Volume 2, No. 5, April 1836, pp. 327-328, … we discover in all men a disposition to look with reverence upon superiority, whether real or supposititious.

His good sense had pointed out to him the artifices of the monks, and the gross absurdity of their miracles, wonders, and supposititious reliques.

The following story was the first fruit of my New York life when I began to live it after my quarter of a century in Cambridge and Boston, ending in 1889; and I used my own transition to the commercial metropolis in framing the experience which was wholly that of my supposititious literary adventurer.

“Why this particular problem, Speaker? It obviously has significance other than purely academic.” “Thank you, my boy. You are as quick as I had expected. The problem is not supposititious.”

Synonyms for supposititious

Antonyms for supposititious

Related Words

Word Forms

• more supposititious
• most supposititious
• suppositious

Usage Notes

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