purportedly

pur·port·ed·ly | \ (ˌ)pər-ˈpȯr-təd-lē

How to pronounce purportedly (audio)

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Definition of purportedly

: it is purported : ostensibly, allegedly

Examples of purportedly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Friends and women’s rights activists suspect her male relatives assaulted her over a video shared online that purportedly showed her out with a man who had proposed to her. — Mohammed Daraghmeh, BostonGlobe.com, "Palestinian women protest after suspected honor killing," 2 Sep. 2019 Local activists shared pictures on social media that purportedly showed a drone that had been brought down by a resident who threw rocks at it. — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, "Israel appears to attack Lebanon’s Hezbollah, part of its expanding anti-Iran campaign," 25 Aug. 2019 Elaborate conspiracy maps have circulated among those who oppose the protests, purportedly showing how US government agencies are funding the protesters. — Jessie Yeung, CNN, "Hong Kong isn't just battling on the streets: There is also a war on misinformation online," 11 Aug. 2019 Video released by Houthi rebels and posted on YouTube purportedly showed wreckage of aircraft on the ground in Yemen, including shots of a propeller like those on a Reaper drone. — latimes.com, "Pentagon accuses Iran of shooting missiles at U.S. drones," 16 June 2019 Online video later surfaced purportedly showing a Filipino from the embassy helping one maid flee. — Time, "The Philippines Ambassador Spoke Out About the Abuse of Maids in Kuwait. Kuwait Responded by Expelling Him," 25 Apr. 2018 In a disturbing new video, children purportedly at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria are singing in praise of ISIS. — Fox News, "ISIS leader calls for ‘caliphate soldiers’ to free detainees from camps, continue attacks," 17 Sep. 2019 In the twentieth-century version, federal boarding schools, often tied to religious institutions, snapped up Native kids, not unlike the British colonizers did, indoctrinating them with their purportedly superior American ideals. — Nick Martin, The New Republic, "IT: Chapter Two and the Great American Tradition of Selling Native Spirituality," 16 Sep. 2019 The Cook County state's attorney's office charged Smollett in February with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for purportedly orchestrating the incident. — NBC News, "Jussie Smollett case: Special prosecutor named to look into why prosecutors dropped charges," 23 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'purportedly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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meddlesome, informal, or unofficial

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