seemingly

British  

/ ˈsiːmɪŋlɪ /

adverb

1. in appearance but not necessarily in actuality

   with seemingly effortless ease

2. (sentence modifier) apparently; as far as one knows

   seemingly, he had few friends left

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Explanation

Something seemingly true appears to be true. Use the adverb seemingly when you want to say "on the face of it" or "apparently." The word seemingly refers to how things look on the surface — how they seem — and it often suggests there's more to the story. A seemingly broken ankle might actually be sprained, and a seemingly rich man might actually be deeply in debt. While your dog is seemingly well-behaved, he may be eating the garbage when you're not home. Seemingly means about the same as apparently, ostensibly, or surely.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

seemingly

There’s nothing more riveting on stage than the truth, and here we have human beings in all their flagrant, unadorned and seemingly irreconcilable complications.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Oftentimes these seemingly overbearing monitoring has nothing to do with how much someone trusts us.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

This became frustratingly evident to the White Sox last season as they watched seemingly well-struck fly balls die on the warning track and grounders fail to scoot through the infield.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

“The fact that there’s a seemingly related problem popping up now suggests to me that the normal supervisory process didn’t work here,” he said.

From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026

Fences like Brent did, seemingly passive, without energy.

From "Black Brother, Black Brother" by Jewell Parker Rhodes