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.

Even those who were asking for clear specifics from ownership were nearly all in favor of granting the conditional-use permit, which was the ostensible purpose of the meeting.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

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

Behind the scenes, Pratt had already fallen hard for Montag, who’d been cast on “The Hills” as lead protagonist Lauren Conrad’s ostensible sidekick and peer at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 2026

That Belmondo morphs from appealing photojournalist to unlikable sexual cad while the picture’s ostensible star—Claude Brasseur as an inadvertent cop killer—disappears for long stretches does the picture no favors.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026

In the following chapters we will see time and again how a dramatic increase in the collective power and ostensible success of our species went hand in hand with much individual suffering.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari