supposedly

adverb

sup·​pos·​ed·​ly sə-ˈpō-zəd-lē 

also -ˈpōzd-lē

: as is supposed : according to what is or was said, claimed, or believed by some

a supposedly true story

a supposedly good restaurant

He had dozens of people around him, supposedly looking after him …

—Philip Norman

Daddy took me to the Legion, to shoot pool supposedly.

—Mary Karr

Synonyms of supposedly

• apparently
• seemingly
• ostensibly
• evidently
• presumably
• probably

Examples of supposedly in a Sentence

she's supposedly too sick to come—or so she says

Recent Examples on the Web

The teen was visiting family in the West Bank with his parents when he was arrested at his family's home at night for supposedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and several members of Congress. —Arkansas Online, 28 Nov. 2025

The movers then demanded the customer pay the total, sometimes inflated by line charges for equipment or services that were unnecessary, not provided or supposedly included in the total cost. —David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 27 Nov. 2025

The dangerous East London estate where all this supposedly goes down, though convincingly imagined, is very much fictional. —Catherine Bray, Variety, 26 Nov. 2025

Theta Chamber uses sensory deprivation and sound frequencies to supposedly induce deep meditation states. —Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 26 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for supposedly

• composedly