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

At which point, four Wolves players stood and watched, seemingly contest to let the Kings dribble the clock out before Mike Conley finally raced over to commit a foul. —Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 25 Nov. 2025

The case seemingly uncovered by Russia’s authorities shows these high payments are also an incentive for criminal gangs. —Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025

Over a decade later, the former mogul seemingly confessed to Black and McCormack's murders as well as the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman in the 2015 HBO docuseries The Jinx. —Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 25 Nov. 2025

Disturbing video captured the moments that a group of teenagers on e-bikes attacked a man seemingly at random outside of a pizza shop in Hermosa Beach last week. —Nicole Comstock, CBS News, 25 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1616, in the meaning defined above