How to Use ostensibly in a Sentence

ostensibly

adverb

• This move ostensibly does all of the above.
  — Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
• To be an ally is to step in to a fight that is ostensibly not your own.
  — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 6 Aug. 2020
• The move was made ostensibly to make room among the running back corps.
  — Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 26 Aug. 2025
• His last seven were free throws in a game that was ostensibly over.
  — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 14 Mar. 2026
• The essay is ostensibly about how to raise a child well.
  — Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026
• To me, the elves in this show that were ostensibly supposed to look scary?
  — Andy Meek, BGR, 29 Nov. 2021
• Perhaps the most telling change of all is one ostensibly small trim.
  — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 18 Jan. 2024
• The other came out a month ago, but does, ostensibly, go up in the club.
  — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 12 Nov. 2019
• These views chafe with a recent flood of ostensibly good news.
  — Time, 25 Apr. 2018
• All of those plans now ostensibly hang in the balance.
  — K.j. Yossman, Variety, 3 Mar. 2026
• This can ostensibly be solved by taking the human out of the front seat of the car.
  — Johana Bhuiyan, Recode, 17 May 2018
• The parking lot was bordered with a black iron fence ostensibly to keep out crime.
  — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 16 Apr. 2018
• This is one side of the pressure inside her mind, the one that can ostensibly drag her down.
  — oregonlive, 6 July 2021
• Why has there been such a turnaround for ostensibly one of the world’s very best players?
  — Mario Cortegana, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2025
• The caliber of play in the new league, ostensibly, will be higher.
  — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
• That means more time — ostensibly — to sit at home and watch Netflix.
  — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 23 May 2018
• He was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, six a days week, ostensibly to work.
  — New York Times, 26 July 2019
• Hill is still around, still adapting, even if the reasons why have ostensibly changed.
  — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 28 June 2023
• The ride was ostensibly about the harms caused by air pollution.
  — Carlton Reid, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2021
• Things seemed, ostensibly, okay—shaking a daiquiri for cocktail hour is fun, for a minute.
  — Hazlitt, 1 Feb. 2023
• The reason for this year’s ban was ostensibly public health again.
  — Vivian Wang, New York Times, 4 June 2021
• Chaves stocks the snack box with chips and cookies, which ostensibly run for 50 cents apiece.
  — Matthew Ormseth, courant.com, 26 Oct. 2017
• The fact that many others saw and ostensibly were able to read the note is of no consequence.
  — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 June 2021
• This was no small thing for a man who's played what are ostensibly some of the world's best parties -- but the fun didn't last.
  — Katie Bain, Billboard, 14 Oct. 2021
• The email, which looked to him like a fraud alert, directed him to what was ostensibly his bank’s sign-in page.
  — Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
• Industry is ostensibly a show about money—who has it, who wants it, who needs it.
  — Louis Staples, Glamour, 12 Jan. 2026
• The language of the bill seems to ostensibly target men and not women.
  — Amira Rasool, Teen Vogue, 23 Feb. 2018
• Which means your job is ostensibly to try to make people better bosses, right?
  — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 3 Apr. 2026
• The band will ostensibly be on tour in support of their new album, which drops in April.
  — oregonlive, 23 Jan. 2023
• Dolphins are the better team here and will show it in what ostensibly is an upset but doesn’t feel like one.
  — Miami Herald, 16 Oct. 2025