Ostensible

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ostensible \Os*ten"si*ble\ ([o^]s*t[e^]n"s[i^]*b'l), a. [From L.
     ostensus, p. p. of ostendere to show, prop., to stretch out
     before; fr. prefix obs- (old form of ob-) + tendere to
     stretch. See {Tend}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Capable of being shown; proper or intended to be shown.


        [R.] --Walpole.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Outwardly appearing to be; shown to be; exhibited;
        apparent; evident.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     3. Declared; avowed; professed; pretended; -- often used as
        opposed to {real} or {actual}; as, an ostensible reason,
        motive, or aim. --D. Ramsay.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ostensible
       adj 1: appearing as such but not necessarily so; "for all his
              apparent wealth he had no money to pay the rent"; "the
              committee investigated some apparent discrepancies";
              "the ostensible truth of their theories"; "his seeming
              honesty" [syn: {apparent(a)}, {seeming(a)}]
       2: represented or appearing as such; pretended; "His ostensible
          purpose was charity, his real goal popularity" [syn: {ostensive}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  83 Moby Thesaurus words for "ostensible":
     Barmecidal, Barmecide, airy, alleged, apparent, apparitional,
     appearing, arrant, autistic, avowed, blatant, bold, chimeric,
     claimed, colorable, colored, conspicuous, deceptive, delusional,
     delusionary, delusive, delusory, dereistic, dreamlike, dreamy,
     erroneous, fallacious, false, fantastic, flagrant, gilded, glaring,
     hanging out, hypocritical, illusional, illusionary, illusive,
     illusory, imaginary, in name only, in relief, in the foreground,
     meretricious, misleading, notable, noticeable, notorious,
     obtrusive, outstanding, outward, phantasmagoric, phantasmal,
     phantom, plausible, pretended, pretexted, professed, prominent,
     pronounced, purported, salient, seeming, self-deceptive,
     self-deluding, so-called, specious, spectral, staring,
     stark-staring, sticking out, striking, superficial, supposed,
     supposititious, surface, tinsel, to the eye, unactual, unfounded,
     unreal, unsubstantial, visible, visionary