purportedly

adverb pur·port·ed·ly \ (ˌ)pər-ˈpȯr-təd-lē \

|Updated on: 13 Aug 2018

Definition of purportedly

: it is purported : ostensibly, allegedly

Recent Examples of purportedly from the Web

Her lawyers contend that texts purportedly showing Carter’s compassion toward her friend were never presented as evidence.

— jeff truesdell, PEOPLE.com, "Mass. Teen Who Urged Boyfriend to Kill Himself in Texts Says It Was Free Speech, Not Crime," 12 July 2018
Prosecutors allege Pam bilked the estates of most of the proceeds from the sale of the Sanford Street home by arranging a sham transaction in which his then-girlfriend, Jasmin Deangelo, purportedly purchased the property for $140,000 in April 2015.

— laura crimaldi, BostonGlobe.com, "Pam family members go on trial for allegedly scamming elderly siblings out of Mattapan home," 13 July 2018
The debate over talc’s safety will continue as the company is purportedly facing more than 9,000 plaintiffs in cases involving body powders with the mineral.

— elizabeth inglese, Vogue, "Why Johnson & Johnson’s $4.7 Billion Baby Powder Lawsuit Is Important for Women Everywhere," 13 July 2018
Except for the second weekend in August, when a fleet of mostly homemade stock outboard boats whiz through at speeds up to 75 miles an hour in the roughest and purportedly the last point-to-point outboard marathon in the country.

— elaine glusac, chicagotribune.com, "Start your boat engines: 'World's Toughest Outboard Marathon' revs up northern Michigan," 12 July 2018
Condoms started being sold in drug stores (purportedly solely for the prevention of venereal disease, per the package label, Gordon says).

— carolyn todd, Allure, "The History and Evolution of Birth Control in America," 12 July 2018
Even the accusations in the dossier that have purportedly been refuted have gained support from law enforcement.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart — Or His Handler?," 8 July 2018
Conservative media were slavishly supportive of Pruitt from the beginning, culminating in a series of fawning profiles in purportedly respectable outlets like the Weekly Standard and National Review.

— david roberts, Vox, "Tribalism fueled Scott Pruitt’s rise to power — and the scandals that came with it," 5 July 2018
Likewise, influential Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, who purportedly had 35 million readers at her peak, fanned the flames of anti-Communism.

— noah isenberg, The New Republic, "Making the Movies Un-American," 3 July 2018

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.