Ostensible means something that appears or seems as such, that is pretended and is only for display. It is an adjective.
It was first used around 1720 and has been derived from the Latin word ostentus.
Pronunciation: o-sten-suh-buh
Meanings of Ostensible
1. Apparent; seeming; professed
2. Appearing as such but not necessarily so
3. Evident or conspicuous
Master’s Tip to Learn Ostensible
What do people who pretend to be someone else for a long time become? They become ‘tense’. And since part of ‘ostensible’ sounds like ‘tense’ it can be used to remember its meaning through this way.
Sentence examples for Ostensible:
1. The ostensible reason for the meeting turned out to be a trick to get him to the surprise party.
2. That intelligence and those facts, of course, all pertained to Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, the war’s ostensible casus belli, which we now know did not exist.
3. It’s rather sad to see ostensible progressives reinforcing this message.
Great one !!!