ostensible

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.

Like that movie, “Remake” has an ostensible central subject that becomes a mere frame for his actual one.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

An ostensible crackdown on “waste, fraud and abuse” inside the Social Security Administration is making giving birth even more complicated for some Americans.

From Salon • Mar. 7, 2025

And leaders with the ostensible authority to drive systemic change have been “managed out” before being given the chance to do much of anything.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2025

But the movie is more effective as a grim, involving cop thriller than it is as an ostensible statement on the Order’s reverberations in the present.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2024

The ostensible reason was that the numbers were easily changed and falsified.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife