as in seemingly
to all outward appearances
he stops by his old office periodically, ostensively just to say "hi"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ostensively
Adverb
-
New 70th anniversary entertainment, outfits and more The theme of the 70th anniversary is Celebrate Happy and everything about it – from its infectiously bubbly and seemingly ubiquitous theme song performed by the Jonas Brothers to its bright blue, pink and purple decor – is designed to delight.—
Eve Chen,
USA Today,
17 May 2025 -
The Florida Panthers, once seemingly with their backs against the wall in this second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series, on Friday have their first opportunity to knock out the Toronto Maple Leafs and advance to the Eastern Conference final for a third consecutive year.—
Jordan McPherson,
Miami Herald,
16 May 2025
Adverb
-
The idea was apparently rejected by the movie’s insurance company, for fear that the drug would leave Cruise paralyzed forever.—
Tyler Foggatt,
New Yorker,
24 May 2025
-
Cannes got its own cliff-hanger ending on Saturday, the final day of the 78th film festival, when a power outage, apparently caused by deliberate sabotage, shut down the power grid serving the city and much of the surrounding region.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
24 May 2025
Adverb
-
The president visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, but not Israel, ostensibly America’s main ally in the region.—
Daniel Byman,
The Atlantic,
24 May 2025
-
In one of his only performances as an ostensibly normal guy, Cruise brings magnificent dirtbag energy to War of the Worlds' Ray, a working-class deadbeat dad whose one weekend with his kids (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) overlaps with an alien invasion.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
24 May 2025
Adverb
-
The list is supposedly about accomplishments and Kirby has fewer in every single metric other than equal championships.—
Chris Vannini,
New York Times,
21 May 2025
-
Five years before Silverman was born, her brother, Jeffrey, was three months old when he was left in the care of Donald’s parents and supposedly died after a portion of his crib collapsed.—
Lisa Respers France,
CNN Money,
20 May 2025
Adverb
-
And though the number has grown from 10% in 2014, this rise was largely sparked by the global need for reliable information during challenging times, and levels have been evidently settling since.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
15 May 2025
-
Ratcliffe was granted control over footballing operations, and his remit has evidently widened beyond that.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
14 May 2025
Adverb
-
Reckoning playing Impossible Mission Agent Ethan Hunt for presumably the final time.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
-
The barrage from deep had the Knicks on their heels despite a presumably safe lead.—
Jacob Lev,
CNN Money,
22 May 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Ostensively.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ostensively. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share