ostensible
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like that movie, “Remake” has an ostensible central subject that becomes a mere frame for his actual one.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026
President Trump loves to define his ostensible political achievements and goals with big numbers.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025
An ostensible crackdown on “waste, fraud and abuse” inside the Social Security Administration is making giving birth even more complicated for some Americans.
From Salon • Mar. 7, 2025
But the movie is more effective as a grim, involving cop thriller than it is as an ostensible statement on the Order’s reverberations in the present.
From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2024
His ostensible reason, however, was to ask whether Mr. Woodhouse’s party could be made up in the evening without him, or whether he should be in the smallest degree necessary at Hartfield.
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
Vocabulary lists containing ostensible
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Words That Could Go Either Way: Synonyms for "Maybe"
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