ostensible

View more Law & Legal Issues videos

Ostensible means 'apparent but not necessarily real' or 'professed':

Despite their ostensible commitment to revolution, they played an ambivalent and ultimately counter-revolutionary role—E. Acton, 1992.

It is often used in the adverbial form ostensibly:

All such songs were ostensibly aimed at the respectable record-buyer, for whom seeing Frankie Vaughan in cabaret at the Talk of the Town was the acme of sophistication—Arts & Book Review, 2007.

Ostensive, a much rarer word, means 'directly demonstrative' and is normally used in technical contexts with words such as definition (meaning a definition that shows what it describes, e.g. a definition of the term italics printed in italics):

If one attempts to teach a dog by way of ostensive definition, it invariably responds by sniffing one's finger—A. F. Chalmers, 1992.

To complete the picture, ostentatious, which is less likely to be confused with the other two, means 'pretentious and showy'.

Previous:	orthopaedic, ornament, originator
Next:	other, otherwise, ought

adjective

Appearing as such but not necessarily so: apparent, external, ostensive, outward, seeming, superficial. See surface/depth.

adj

Definition: alleged, supposed
Antonyms: genuine, improbable, obscure, real, unlikely, vague

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Apparent; visible; exhib- ited.

Ostensible authority is power that a principal, either by design or through the absence of ordinary care, permits others to believe his or her agent possesses.

IN BRIEF: Outward appearance.

The ostensible purpose of the parade was to celebrate the day, but the prolific political posters made it clear it was part of a campaign.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

See words rhyming with "ostensible."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Ostensibly.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - tilsyneladende, skin-, påstået, angiven

Nederlands (Dutch)
ogenschijnlijk

Français (French)
adj. - apparent

Deutsch (German)
adj. - angeblich, Schein-

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - φαινομενικός, κατά τα φαινόμενα, δήθεν

Italiano (Italian)
apparente

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - ostensivo, aparente

Русский (Russian)
показной, явный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - ostensible, aparente, manifiesto

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - skenbar, påstådd

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
表面的, 假装的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 表面的, 假裝的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 표면상의, 허울만의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 表向きの

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) ظاهري‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮שלכאורה, נראה, מדומה‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.