PUTATIVELY Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

putatively

adverb

as in seemingly

to all outward appearances the lake's putatively pristine water is actually crawling with microorganisms that can wreak havoc with your gastrointestinal system

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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.

Recent Examples of putatively Miller has long been concerned with some of the actions taken after 9/11, putatively in her name, against Muslims in general. — Gloria Pazmino, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026 The eight-story glass building at the center of the complex, which had putatively been devoted to vaccine manufacturing, was in fact a highly classified defense facility. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 25 July 2026 Such agencies are putatively created to provide expert advice to the president on complex issues such as nuclear technology and consumer product safety. — Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 29 June 2026 But with supposedly or putatively race-neutral methods, for 100 years, the right to vote was denied. — CBS News, 4 May 2026 From the perspective of a world of increasingly unimaginable maldistribution of resources, cascading ecological collapse, a genocide cheered on by a putatively liberal order, both are barbarisms. — Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025 Over the next several years, Leo, through the Judicial Crisis Network, continued to back conservative candidates in Wisconsin, where judicial elections are, putatively, nonpartisan. — Andy Kroll, ProPublica, 11 Oct. 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for putatively

Adverb

With Hjobjerg seemingly having turned Newcastle down and Palhinha appearing likely to move elsewhere, Ross Wilson, the club’s sporting director, is exploring alternative midfield options.

— Chris Waugh, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Even seemingly small details, like an owl carved into the hospital’s columns, carry deeper meaning.

— Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of seemingly

Adverb

Because apparently groceries need to be accelerated urgently.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 22 Aug. 2026
Clancy then ingested prescription medication, slashed her wrists and neck with a knife, and apparently threw herself head first out of a second-story window, resulting in permanent paralysis from the sternum down.

— Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2026

Definition of apparently

Adverb

What also rang true for me was the way that, in the course of the season, Deborah said no to so many of the ideas her writers had supposedly submitted.

— Merrill Markoe, Deadline, 21 Aug. 2026
The drone boat itself supposedly carried explosives, according to Miruță’s comments, as reported by Reuters.

— Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of supposedly

Adverb

Diplomacy is ostensibly still underway — Pakistan’s leader is due in Iran today, Oman’s foreign minister tomorrow — and Iran’s politicians have called for an end to war with the US.

— Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 24 Aug. 2026
No one seems bothered that nearly everyone has an Aussie accent, despite this film ostensibly unfolding 100 miles away from Los Angeles (the film was shot in Queensland).

— Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of ostensibly

Adverb

It was evidently lost amid the flood of congratulatory messages that arrived on campus that day, and Calhoun didn’t remember it.

— Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 23 Aug. 2026
Thoroughly unimpressed by her suburban idyll, and evidently unmoved by her responsibilities as wife and mother, Denise labors in her basement on a novel whose protagonist wishes to forsake her family for a life in New York.

— Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2026

Definition of evidently

Adverb

Yet, on TikTok, on Threads, and, presumably, in innumerable group texts, a contrarian consensus has flourished.

— Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2026
That is, as my colleague David Hudnall wrote a day earlier, presumably to avoid a petition forcing a public vote.

— Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of presumably

Adverb

Not a forest by any means, but a small woods where there are squirrels and chipmunks, probably snakes and skunks, rabbits and, now and then, passing through on some mysterious transient route, a deer or a family of deer.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Aug. 2026
And that’s probably going to be an extra big problem when people are cooped up at a remote mining outpost.

— Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of probably

Browse Nearby Words

putative

putatively

put away

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“Putatively.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putatively. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of putatively

adverb

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