supposedly

adverb

sup·​pos·​ed·​ly sə-ˈpō-zəd-lē How to pronounce supposedly (audio)
 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

Examples of supposedly in a Sentence

she's supposedly too sick to come—or so she says
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Austin doesn't even seem to register his witless neighbor's lack of social skills until Craig punches his lights out—supposedly in fun—during a guys' night get-together. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 9 May 2025 Apparently the director doesn’t mind the cotton candy smoke wafting up from a supposedly dead body. Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 8 May 2025 That’s not the case here, the world’s largest inland delta; in fact, the water level here is at its highest now during the supposedly dry season, mostly because the rainfall that deluges Angola’s highlands in summer takes so long to meander down to pool on the plains. Mark Ellwood, AFAR Media, 8 May 2025 Most experts argue that astronauts would inevitably import some Earthly microbes to the Martian surface, potentially compromising the integrity of supposedly pristine samples as well as that of the planet itself. Leonard David, Scientific American, 8 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for supposedly

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of supposedly was in 1597

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Cite this Entry

“Supposedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supposedly. Accessed 13 May. 2025.

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