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Webster 1913 Edition


Ostensible

Os-ten′si-ble

(ŏs-tĕn′sĭ-b’l)
,
Adj.
[From L.
ostensus
, p. p. of
ostendere
to show, prop., to stretch out before; fr. prefix
obs-
(old form of
ob-
) +
tendere
to stretch. See
Tend
.]
1.
Capable of being shown; proper or intended to be shown.
[R.]
Walpole.

Webster 1828 Edition


Ostensible

OSTEN'SIBLE

,
Adj.
[L. ostendo, to show.]
1.
That may be shown; proper or intended to be shown.
2.
Plausible; colorable.
3.
Appearing; seeming; shown, declared or avowed. We say, the ostensible reason or motive for a measure may be the real one, or very different from the real one. This is the common, and I believe the only sense in which the word is used in America.
One of the ostensible grounds on which the proprietors had obtained their charter -

Definition 2024


ostensible

ostensible

English

Adjective

ostensible (comparative more ostensible, superlative most ostensible)

  1. Apparent, evident; meant for open display.
    • 1956–1960, R.S. Peters, The Concept of Motivation, Routledge & Kegan Paul (second edition, 1960), chapter ii: “Motives and Motivation”, page 32:
      Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.
    • 1974, Thomas S. Szasz, M.D., chapter 11, in The Myth of Mental Illness, ISBN 0-06-091151-4, page 192:
      In witch-trials the conflict was officially defined as between the accused and God, or between the accused and the Catholic (later Protestant) church, as God's earthly representative. [...]
      Behind the ostensible conflict of the witch-trial lay the usual conflicts of social class, values, and human relationships.
    • 2016 January 26, "When ‘Made In Israel’ Is a Human Rights Abuse," The New York Times (retrieved 26 January 2016):
      The ostensible reason this provision was added to a bill on international trade is to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a grass-roots campaign that seeks to pressure Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians.
  2. Appearing as such; being such in appearance; professed, supposed (rather than demonstrably true or real).
    The ostensible reason for his visit to New York was to see his mother, but the real reason was to get to the Yankees game the next day.

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French

Etymology

from Latin ostensus, past participle of ostendere 'to show', itself from obs- in front of (akin to ob- in the way; akin to Greek epi 'on, at, besides, after' and Old English eofot crime) + tendere 'to stretch' (Greek teinein)

Adjective

ostensible m, f (plural ostensibles)

  1. apparent

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Spanish

Adjective

ostensible m, f (plural ostensibles)

  1. ostensible, apparent

Related terms