[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

ostensible \osten"sible\ o^ste^n"si^b'l, a. 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.
   1913 webster
   1. capable of being shown; proper or intended to be shown.
      r. --walpole.
      1913 webster

   2. outwardly appearing to be; shown to be; exhibited;
      apparent; evident.
      1913 webster +pjc

   3. declared; avowed; professed; pretended; -- often used as
      opposed to real or actual; as, an ostensible reason,
      motive, or aim. --d. ramsay.
      1913 webster +pjc
see also:
tend real actual 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

ostensible
     adj 1: appearing as such but not necessarily so; "for all his
            apparent wealth he had no money to pay the rent"; "the
            committee investigated some apparent discrepancies";
            "the ostensible truth of their theories"; "his seeming
            honesty" syn: apparenta, seeminga
     2: represented or appearing as such; pretended; "his ostensible
        purpose was charity, his real goal popularity" syn: ostensive
see also:
apparenta seeminga ostensive 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

83 moby thesaurus words for "ostensible":
   barmecidal, barmecide, airy, alleged, apparent, apparitional,
   appearing, arrant, autistic, avowed, blatant, bold, chimeric,
   claimed, colorable, colored, conspicuous, deceptive, delusional,
   delusionary, delusive, delusory, dereistic, dreamlike, dreamy,
   erroneous, fallacious, false, fantastic, flagrant, gilded, glaring,
   hanging out, hypocritical, illusional, illusionary, illusive,
   illusory, imaginary, in name only, in relief, in the foreground,
   meretricious, misleading, notable, noticeable, notorious,
   obtrusive, outstanding, outward, phantasmagoric, phantasmal,
   phantom, plausible, pretended, pretexted, professed, prominent,
   pronounced, purported, salient, seeming, self-deceptive,
   self-deluding, so-called, specious, spectral, staring,
   stark-staring, sticking out, striking, superficial, supposed,
   supposititious, surface, tinsel, to the eye, unactual, unfounded,
   unreal, unsubstantial, visible, visionary

Ostensible >> O Words
Ostensible, definition of term: Ostensible
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