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

While some unions have successfully bargained for the right to supplement the QR codes with pen and paper, corporate has supposedly responded to that concession by refusing to stock more order cards. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Apr. 2026

Meanwhile, screenshots have supposedly popped up online of the former in an early festival programme. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2026

Maria then supposedly issued checks for a partial repayment and claimed the rest would come at a later date. —Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 9 Apr. 2026

The cable company that her husband supposedly worked for advertised in the paper. —Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post, 8 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for supposedly

• composedly