Sample sentences for OSTENSIBLY

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Definition

appearing as such, but possibly not

His ostensible purpose was charity, his real goal popularity.

ostensible = appearing as such, but possibly not

They met a veiled person—ostensibly a woman—coming out of the back gate a few minutes after the cry for help was heard.
Mark Twain -- Pudd'nhead Wilson

ostensibly = appearing as such, but possibly not

Whitney had stayed home, ostensibly to get dinner ready.
Sarah Dessen -- Just Listen

ostensibly = appearing as such, but really for another reason

He had also reasons, deep rather than ostensible, for being satisfied with his own appearance.
Eliot, George -- Middlemarch
Their real preparations they masked beneath ostensible ones.
Wells, H.G. -- The War in the Air
Mr Verloc cared but little about his ostensible business.
Conrad, Joseph -- The Secret Agent
The ostensible reason why Ahab did not go on board of the whaler we had spoken was this: the wind and sea betokened storms.
Melville, Herman -- Moby Dick I-LXVII
the ostensible truth of their theories
I shared the most basic operating system with people who ostensibly had little in common with me.
Piper Kerman -- Orange Is the New Black
Carmichael had ridden out of Pine, ostensibly on the trail of the Mexicans who had executed Beasley's commands.
Zane Grey -- The Man of the Forest
On the Friday Peter Holmes drove up to Melbourne in his little car, ostensibly to try and find a garden seat.
Nevil Shute -- On the Beach
I only knew that one day, which was tiresomely like all the others before it, I sat in the Railway office, ostensibly waiting to be interviewed.
Maya Angelou -- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
There are occasions, Alvah, when the issues at stake are not the ostensible facts at all.
Ayn Rand -- The Fountainhead
A policeman, a detective, returned to our home, ostensibly to follow up on April's disappearance, and upon sight of him, I ordered him from our home.
Stephen King -- Rose Red
The leafless tree was behind our ostensible lives for many months.
Virginia Woolf -- A Sketch of the Past
But, while he was making this ostensible sacrifice to general considerations, Magua never lost sight of his individual motives.
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Last of the Mohicans
He was ostensibly watching for speeders, but in actual fact he was cooping.
Stephen King -- Cujo
And finally, Astaroth's participation would certainly explain how such an ostensibly unimposing gladiator had reached the championship match....
Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
But if the ostensible executive needs the approval of an executive council before he can act, most of the same comments apply.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
The festivities concluded with a polo match, staged, ostensibly, for the entertainment of the visiting dignitaries.
Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin -- Three Cups of Tea

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