Wiktionary

ostensibly

English

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WOTD – 5 April 2007

Etymology

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From ostensible +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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ostensibly (not comparable)

  1. (modal) Seemingly, apparently, on the surface.
    Synonyms: apparently, arguably, at first blush, seemingly; see also Thesaurus:ostensibly
    • 1889, Leslie Stephen, Sidney Lee, Dictionary of National Biography:
      On 13 June the peshwa signed a new treaty, ostensibly complying with the demands of the British government […]
    • 1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter IX, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1906 February 26, →OCLC:
      Up to a year or two ago it had been the custom to kill horses in the yards — ostensibly for fertilizer; […]
    • 1951 December, T. B. Sands, “Some Railway Byways in the Vale of Glamorgan”, in Railway Magazine, page 838:
      The original branch was 5¾ miles long, from Llantrisant to Cowbridge only, but in 1889, the T.V.R. [Taff Vale Railway] obtained powers […] to continue the line for 6½ miles south to the coast at Aberthaw, ostensibly for the purpose of serving the important limestone works there, but one suspects other motives, including an understandable desire on the part of the T.V.R. to put a spoke in the wheel of the oncoming Barry Railway !
    • 2007, Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson, Sandworms of Dune:
      People strive to achieve perfection — ostensibly an honorable goal — but complete perfection is dangerous. To be imperfect, but human, is far preferable.
    • 2007 April 10, “Who Killed Ashraf Marwan?”, in The New York Times‎[1], retrieved 18 September 2015:
      Mr. Marwan’s story — a tale overflowing with the suspense and ruthless duplicity of a spy novel — began to take shape in the spring of 1969. He had come to London, ostensibly to consult a Harley Street doctor about a stomach ailment. He chose to be examined by a doctor whose offices had been used previously for a covert meeting between King Hussein of Jordan and the general director of the Israeli prime minister’s office."
    • 2017 August 3, “Shellfish, fire and Party praise: beach breaks, North Korea style”, in France 24‎[2], sourced from Nampho (North Korea) (AFP), archived from the original on November 11, 2020, Live news‎[3]:
      The "petrol clams" are fleshy and flavourful -- the secret to avoiding a hydrocarbon taste is not to inhale while slipping them into the mouth -- and a speciality of the West Sea Barrage beach at Nampho, southwest of Pyongyang.
      The sandy beach lies at the far end of the eight-kilometre barrier across the Taedong river mouth -- ostensibly built for flood control, but which also blocks access to Pyongyang, a few dozen kilometres upriver, for any invading navy.
    • 2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42:
      Quite possibly the worst aspect of this is the role of the train operating companies and their representative body, the ineptly named Rail Delivery Group (RDG). Ostensibly, the plan has come from them. In reality, this has been driven entirely by Government, which asked each train operator to draw up plans for its area.
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Translations

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References

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