ostensibly

adverb/ɑˈstɛnsɪbli/

Frequency rank: #9,082 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

apparently or seemingly true, but not necessarily so; on the surface.

Illustration for the English word “ostensibly”

Example sentence

He left work early, ostensibly to visit the doctor, but he actually went to the cinema.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 9,001–9,100