ostensibly

ostensible (ɒˈstɛnsɪb^əl)

—*adj*
1.	apparent; seeming
2.	pretended

[C18: via French from Medieval Latin ostensibilis, from Latin ostendere to show, from ob- before + tendere to extend]

ostensi'bility

—n

ostensibly (ɒˈstɛnsɪblɪ)

—*adv*
	(sentence modifier) apparently; seemingly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ostensible

1762, from Fr. ostensible, from L. ostensus, pp. of ostendere "to show," from ob "in front of" + tendere "to stretch" (see tenet).

ostensibly

1765, from ostensible.

Example sentences

Crowds in the park have thinned considerably since the city cleaned out their

encampment, ostensibly in the name of hygiene.

Ostensibly its purpose is to provide more irrigation for local rice paddies,

and some hydroelectricity.

Ostensibly, the restrictions are designed to control illegal logging and

related activities.

First, lunch the journalists concerned, ostensibly to discuss some other story.

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Matching Quote

"Iconic clothing has been secularized.... A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent."

-Angela Carter