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.

But it still makes an awkward fit, tonally, in a book whose ostensible subject had created more light-hearted expectations.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026

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

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

Here, Sweeney takes a big leap from her admirable work in small-screen dramas and rom-coms to an ostensible Oscar vehicle, diving into the deep end with the same fearless certainty Martin boasted in the ’90s.

From Salon • Nov. 8, 2025

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