adj
Meaning 1
Apparent, evident; meant for open display.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
ostensible
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ɒˈstɛns.ɪ.bəl/
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US: /ɑˈstɛns.ɪ.bəl/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: AA0 S T EH1 N S AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Appearing as such; being such in appearance; professed, supposed (rather than demonstrably true or real).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The ostensible reason for his visit to New York was to see his mother, but the real reason was to get to the Yankees game the next day.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 3
represented or appearing as such; pretended
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- His ostensible purpose was charity, his real goal popularity
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ostensive
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 4
appearing as such but not necessarily so
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- for all his apparent wealth he had no money to pay the rent
- the committee investigated some apparent discrepancies
- the ostensible truth of their theories
- his seeming honesty
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: apparent(a), seeming(a)
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Borrowed from French ostensible, formed with the suffix -ible, from Latin ostensus, the past participle of ostendō (“show”), itself from obs- (“in front of”) (akin to ob- (“in the way”)) + tendō (“stretch”) (akin to Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō)). Cf. also Medieval Latin ostensibilis.
Across languages
Translations
40 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: явен (javen) — meant for open display; apparent
- Catalan: ostensible — meant for open display; apparent
- Danish: åbenlys — meant for open display; apparent
- Dutch: klaarblijkelijk — meant for open display; apparent
- Dutch: kennelijk — meant for open display; apparent
- Finnish: näennäinen — meant for open display; apparent
- French: ostensible — meant for open display; apparent
- German: anscheinend — meant for open display; apparent
- German: augenscheinlich — meant for open display; apparent
- German: offenbar — meant for open display; apparent
- German: scheinbar — meant for open display; apparent
- German: ostensiv — meant for open display; apparent
- German: ostensibel — meant for open display; apparent
- Greek: φαινομενικός (fainomenikós) — meant for open display; apparent
- Portuguese: aparente — meant for open display; apparent
- Russian: явный (javnyj) — meant for open display; apparent
- Russian: очевидный (očevidnyj) — meant for open display; apparent
- Serbo-Croatian: návodnī — meant for open display; apparent
- Serbo-Croatian: tòbožnjī — meant for open display; apparent
- Spanish: ostensible — meant for open display; apparent
- Swedish: påstådd — meant for open display; apparent
- Swedish: skenbar — meant for open display; apparent
- Bulgarian: привиден (prividen) — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Bulgarian: фиктивен (fiktiven) — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Catalan: ostensible — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Czech: údajný — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Czech: zdánlivý — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Esperanto: ŝajna — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Finnish: näennäinen — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- French: ostensible — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- German: scheinbar — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- German: vordergründig — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- German: vorgeblich — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- German: angeblich — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- German: vorgeschoben — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Middle English: semly — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Portuguese: aparente — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Portuguese: pretenso — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Russian: формальный (formalʹnyj) — appearing as such; professed, supposed
- Spanish: ostensible — appearing as such; professed, supposed