ostensibly
Americanadverb
adverb
Other Word Forms
- nonostensibly adverb
- unostensibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of ostensibly
First recorded in 1760–70; ostensib(le) ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Explanation
Ostensibly is an adverb you use to talk about something that looks one way, but underneath there's the hint of a different motivation for that action. One day you go to an ice cream shop. Then the next day. And the next. You keep going, ostensibly to buy ice cream, but there’s a deeper reason. The cute person who works there, perhaps? To ostensibly do something admits that the surface reason might not be the only reason. The Latin root words translate as “to stretch in view of,” so imagine that you’re stretching a thin mask over your true intentions.
Vocabulary lists containing ostensibly
"Marigolds"
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Born a Crime
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This Week in Pop Culture: January 26 - February 1, 2019
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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.
And it’s all ostensibly for a very good cause: a scholarship fund for college journalism students.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
Mark Joseph Stern: The speech is ostensibly bemoaning the progressive movement of the early 20th century, but the New Republic’s Matt Ford has a fantastic piece about how his history is completely wrong.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
The oldest of the vulnerabilities uncovered by Mythos dates back 27 years, and none were ostensibly noticed by their makers before being pinpointed by the AI model, according to Anthropic.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Though no real details about the new film were revealed, references to it peppered the conversation as if it were very much on Spielberg’s mind — the film he was ostensibly there to promote.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
I saw him move in my direction, ostensibly to make me take a turn performing his stupid experiment and instead I just stared at him, my face numb.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
