Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Jul 13, 2016
This week’s theme
Miscellaneous words

This week’s words
probative
jobbery
ostensible
fane
arable

Words, language & more
Join us in our discussion forum Wordsmith Talk
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

ostensible

PRONUNCIATION:
(ah-STEN-suh-buhl)

MEANING:
adjective: Appearing as such; supposed.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French ostensible, from Latin ostendere (to show, stretch out), from ob- (in front of) + tendere (to stretch). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which also gave us tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, detente, countenance, distend, extenuate, tenable, tenuous, abstentious, and impertinent. Earliest documented use: 1743.

USAGE:
“Thoreau disdained his ostensible friends, once responding to a social invitation with the words ‘such are my engagements to myself, that I dare not promise.’”
Kathryn Schulz; Pond Scum; The New Yorker; Oct 19, 2015.

See more usage examples of ostensible in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. -Wole Soyinka, playwright, poet, Nobel laureate (b. 13 Jul 1934)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith