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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Put forth or held out as real, actual, or intended; apparent; professed: as, a person's ostensible reason or motive for doing something.
  2. Capable of being shown; that may be shown; proper or intended to be shown.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. meant for open display; apparent
  2. adj. alleged, having an intention that is possibly but not obviously true

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Capable of being shown; proper or intended to be shown.
  2. adj. Outwardly appearing to be; shown to be; exhibited; apparent; evident.
  3. adj. Declared; avowed; professed; pretended; -- often used as opposed to real or actual.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. appearing as such but not necessarily so
  2. adj. represented or appearing as such; pretended.

Etymologies

  1. French, from Medieval Latin ostēnsibilis, from Latin ostēnsus, past participle of ostendere, to show : ob-, ob- + tendere, to stretch; see ten- in Indo-European roots.

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‘ostensible’ has been looked up 3942 times, loved by 14 people, added to 111 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 12.