seemingly

adverb

seem·​ing·​ly ˈsē-miŋ-lē 

: outwardly or apparently

—used to indicate how something appears or seems

a seemingly simple problem [=a problem that seems simple]

a seemingly endless project [=a project that seems to have no end]

The balance of nature—an ideal state in which every species is in its right place—is seemingly being upended.

—Bryan Walsh

These were years in which seemingly every city authority from Adelaide to Oslo had set its heart on the construction of an unsurpassably iconic building …

—Ellis Woodman

Then, in 1929, taste arbiter Emily Post sanctioned a seemingly irreversible shift in manners: "No rule of etiquette is of less importance than which fork we use."

—Douglas Brenner

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilized by invisible ropes.

—J. K. Rowling

Synonyms of seemingly

• apparently
• supposedly
• ostensibly
• evidently
• probably
• presumably

Examples of seemingly in a Sentence

a seemingly contented baby who was fast asleep in his crib

Recent Examples on the Web

Malware deployed via seemingly innocent GitHub repositories and embedded in blockchains, where the malware will be stored forever (and increasingly difficult to root out as the chains grow), makes for an almost unstoppable technology. —Jessica Klein, PC Magazine, 11 Apr. 2026

Almost immediately after releasing Einstein, Paliwal started receiving emails from professors chastising him for creating a tool seemingly designed to perpetuate academic fraud. —Lila Shroff, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026

Earlier reports said the wedding would take place on June 13 — seemingly plausible because 13 is Swift’s favorite number. —Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 10 Apr. 2026

After the original Malcolm in the Middle ended in 2006, Per Sullivan continued acting for a few more years before seemingly stopping altogether. —Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 10 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1616, in the meaning defined above