ostensible

adjective

os·​ten·​si·​ble ä-ˈsten(t)-sə-bəl 

ə-

1

: intended for display : open to view

2

: being such in appearance : plausible rather than demonstrably true or real

the ostensible purpose for the trip

Did you know?

British philosopher and economist Jeremy Bentham once wrote to Indian religious leader Ram Mohan Roy asking him to “send me two letters—one confidential, another ostensible.” By ostensible he meant that, unlike the confidential letter, the latter was intended to be shown to people other than Bentham himself. This sense of ostensible shows clearly the influence of the word’s Latin ancestor, the verb ostendere, meaning “to hold out for inspection,” “to show,” “to make clear by one’s actions,” and “to demonstrate.” Ostensible is still used today as it is in Bentham’s letter, but it is much more likely to suggest a discrepancy between a declared or implied aim or reason (i.e., the aim or reason that someone displays or “shows” to others) and the true one. For example, someone might give “seeing an old friend” as their ostensible reason for planning a trip when in reality they are planning on spending most of their time relaxing on the beach.

Synonyms

• apparent
• presumed
• possible
• obvious
• seeming
• probable
• supposed

Choose the Right Synonym for ostensible

apparent, illusory, seeming, ostensible mean not actually being what appearance indicates.

apparent suggests appearance to unaided senses that may or may not be borne out by more rigorous examination or greater knowledge.

the apparent cause of the accident

illusory implies a false impression based on deceptive resemblance or faulty observation, or influenced by emotions that prevent a clear view.

an illusory sense of security

seeming implies a character in the thing observed that gives it the appearance, sometimes through intent, of something else.

the seeming simplicity of the story

ostensible suggests a discrepancy between an openly declared or naturally implied aim or reason and the true one.

the ostensible reason for their visit

Examples of ostensible in a Sentence

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. —Frank Rich, New York Review, 6 Apr. 2006

To listen again to "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"—probably the most relentlessly cheerful song ever written on the ostensible theme of misery—is at once to admire its delicately judged textures and Swiss-watch precision … —Geoffrey O'Brien, New York Review of Books, 15 Dec. 2005

Its ostensible subject is America's murderous gun culture. Its real subject, of course, is the ravenous ego of its director-star, Michael Moore. —Scott Berg, Time, 14 July 2003

It's a snarky, glory-thieving place, the world of big-bucks political fund raising. Ostensible grownups can be reduced to screaming toddlers over who gets the credit for bringing in a major donor's gift … —Viveca Novak, Time, 14 June 1999

the ostensible reason for the meeting turned out to be a trick to get him to the surprise party

Recent Examples on the Web

That streak continues here, but the real delight of this ostensible side project is Allison Crutchfield’s return to the mic after an extended absence, and the rebirth of a sibling rock band, apparently sans fistfights or cricket bats. —Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025

The British marque is a little less transparent about pricing (publicly, at least) than its ostensible American competitor. —Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 31 Oct. 2025

This season, the comparison becomes particularly apropos as Jason and Brett Oppenheim — the ostensible leaders of the Oppenheim Group — realize that exercising little to no authority over their agents for eight seasons has resulted in things spiraling out of control. —Anne Victoria Clark, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025

Putin claimed that such NGOs had taken in more than $1 billion from foreign sources, offering the figure as ostensible proof of Western meddling. —Tetiana Kotelnykova, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin ostensibilis "perceptible, visible, capable of demonstration," from Latin ostensus, variant of ostentus, past participle of ostendere "to hold out for inspection, show, make clear by one's actions, demonstrate" (from os-, assimilated variant of obs-, variant of ob- "toward, facing, against" + tendere "to extend outward, stretch, spread out") + -bilis "capable (of acting) or worthy (of being acted upon)" — more at ob-, tender entry 3, -able

Note: Scattered attestations of the Latin word, usually in the form ostensible as a predicate adjective, can be found from Duns Scotus to the eighteenth century. The Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, attributes the English word to French, though among vernaculars ostensible is more common in Italian in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

First Known Use

circa 1771, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ostensible

• sensible
• compensable
• condensable
• defensible
• dispensable
• extensible
• insensible
• comprehensible
• indefensible
• indispensable
• reprehensible
• supersensible

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Kids Definition

ostensible

adjective

os·​ten·​si·​ble ä-ˈsten(t)-sə-bəl 

ə-

: shown outwardly : apparent

the ostensible purpose of his visit