supposedly

adverb

sup·​pos·​ed·​ly sə-ˈpō-zəd-lē How to pronounce supposedly (audio)
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

Examples of supposedly in a Sentence

she's supposedly too sick to come—or so she says
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In September, parents and families chimed in on a supposedly rocky resignation of the high school's head baseball coach, Asif Shah. Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 14 Nov. 2025 New York followed with an 1808 ban on daytime swimming in the East River, meant, in the moral logic of the day, to protect innocent women from the supposedly corrupting sight of men’s naked flesh. Jacob Beckert, The Atlantic, 13 Nov. 2025 But Abbott — who, supposedly, doesn’t know about the jogging path, and is not convinced by Aggie’s impression that Nile seemed to want to be thanked for something that morning — doesn’t see any reason why Nile would be motivated to kill Teddy. Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025 The series reveals that Carrie, Marissa, and Peter were involved in a devastating car accident years earlier that supposedly killed Carrie’s newborn. Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 11 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for supposedly

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of supposedly was in 1597

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Supposedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supposedly. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.

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