OSTENSIBLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ostensible mean? 

• OSTENSIBLE (adjective)
  The adjective OSTENSIBLE has 2 senses:

1. appearing as such but not necessarily so

2. represented or appearing as such; pretended

  Familiarity information: OSTENSIBLE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OSTENSIBLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Appearing as such but not necessarily so

Synonyms:

apparent; ostensible; seeming

Context example:

his seeming honesty

Similar:

superficial (concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Represented or appearing as such; pretended

Synonyms:

ostensible; ostensive

Context example:

His ostensible purpose was charity, his real goal popularity

Similar:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

 Context examples 

His ostensible reason, however, was to ask whether Mr. Woodhouse's party could be made up in the evening without him, or whether he should be in the smallest degree necessary at Hartfield.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Our ostensible work is therefore done.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At first I thought of knocking, then I remembered my ostensible errand and resolved to carry it out.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes; so I discharged that business first, and when it was done, I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office: it was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The word was blunder; and as Harriet exultingly proclaimed it, there was a blush on Jane's cheek which gave it a meaning not otherwise ostensible.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I cannot deny that Miss Woodhouse was my ostensible object—but I am sure you will believe the declaration, that had I not been convinced of her indifference, I would not have been induced by any selfish views to go on.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)