How to Use on the face of it in a Sentence

on the face of it

phrase

• Yet on the face of it the delegates do not have much of a choice.
  — The Economist, 16 Jan. 2021
• Both of them are, on the face of it, challenging films to make.
  — Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 12 Aug. 2025
• While on the face of it this is good news, the drop was boosted by bank servicers buying out loans.
  — Christopher Maloney, Bloomberg.com, 7 Oct. 2020
• Sunderland, on the face of it, have done some very good transfer business.
  — Oliver Kay, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2025
• This may not sound like much on the face of it, but keep in mind the billions of years the universe has been churning.
  — Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, 19 Oct. 2018
• This does not seem to be totally implausible on the face of it.
  — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 29 Oct. 2011
• But the point is, this is something that’s, on the face of it — this is not a problem in set theory.
  — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 19 Apr. 2023
• However, at least on the face of it, there is an ethical issue here.
  — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 27 Sep. 2015
• So, on the face of it, the current alignment could just be seen as a coincidence.
  — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 22 Apr. 2025
• Being hauled before Congress is, on the face of it, a sign of success.
  — The Economist, 30 July 2020
• Dave, feeling mischievous, ushered them towards a window seat and what, on the face of it, seemed a prime spot.
  — Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2025
• The second book is a work of literary criticism that is, on the face of it, not much concerned with anatomy.
  — Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
• Sure, on the face of it, a game centered around cleaning up gunk might not sound like an interesting diversion.
  — Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2021
• So on the face of it, President Biden is indeed swapping principle for oil.
  — Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 July 2022
• Ridiculous on the face of it, preposterous even — yet somehow also kind of plausible.
  — Nikki Sternberg, HollywoodReporter, 20 Sep. 2025
• This Saturday’s slate of Premier League fixtures does not, on the face of it, bear the same hallmarks.
  — Jack Lang, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
• So in the same way that charged particles can attract or repel depending on their charges, gravity seems on the face of it very analogous.
  — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025
• Perhaps fittingly for a man who has achieved mythic status in his sport, his downfall stemmed from what, on the face of it, sounded like a trivial issue.
  — Martin Fritz Huber, Outside Online, 5 Oct. 2020
• And yet, on the face of it, nobody has followed up on the alarm - although there are whispers in the intelligence community.
  — Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
• The Austrian is still wedded to his 3-4-2-1 formation and, on the face of it, has not changed much.
  — Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
• This is a group of eight different search terms that appear below the initial results on the search page, and, on the face of it, appear to be linked to the search term just used.
  — David Gilbert, WIRED, 16 July 2024
• Governments should, on the face of it, be better primed for managing novel risks and technologies than ever before.
  — Mustafa Suleyman, WIRED, 6 Sep. 2023
• Newcastle’s Under-18s are third in their league which, on the face of it, looks decent, but winning is not everything.
  — George Caulkin, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
• The World Bank’s global economic forecast for the year ahead was, on the face of it, full of good news for African countries.
  — Alexis Akwagyiram, semafor.com, 14 Jan. 2026
• Beating Kansas State wasn’t really all that improbable on the face of it.
  — Dallas News, 3 Dec. 2022
• Regeneration, on the face of it, seems like a very useful thing, yet most mammals have lost their ability to regenerate.
  — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 26 June 2025
• The images are rendered in muted tones of gray and brown, with touches of blue and rose, which paradoxically lightens the mood — the homage to old movies is both a distancing device and fun on the face of it.
  — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2024
• The Tokyo Olympics officially kicked off this weekend, and on the face of it, the ratings for Friday’s opening ceremony looked like a flop.
  — Frank Pallotta, CNN, 26 July 2021
• And, on the face of it, an indie film about a nonagenarian might seem an unusual choice for the feature directorial debut of the highest-grossing actress of all time.
  — Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 12 May 2025
• There is, on the face of it, no shame in losing to Paris Saint-Germain in Paris and Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
  — James Horncastle, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026