purport
verb (used with object)
to present, especially deliberately, the appearance of being; profess or claim, often falsely.
had purported
-
past perfectof purport.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Many of its now-vanished pavilions had purported to show visitors the future — with its touch-tone, speaker and video phones, IBM Selectric typewriters, even colonies on the moon and houses underground.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2014
Each series of reforms purports to be better than the last, which had purported to be better than ones before.
From Salon ● May 24, 2012
The note had been written by Lady Laura, but it had purported to come from Lord Brentford himself.
From Phineas Finn The Irish Member by Anthony Trollope
He had written to tell Mr Stead of his experiences, which included several in which the Julia of "Julia's Letters" had purported to be present.
From Seen and Unseen by E. Katharine Bates
