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

President Trump loves to define his ostensible political achievements and goals with big numbers.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025

All of the growth coming, as Russell notes, detention and deportation being shown to be ineffective at the administration’s ostensible goal of reducing crime.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 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