ostensibly Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adverb from appearances alone
    on the face of it; apparently; seemingly.
    • irrigation often produces bumper crops from apparently desert land
    • the child is seemingly healthy but the doctor is concerned
    • had been ostensibly frank as to his purpose while really concealing it"-Thomas Hardy
    • on the face of it the problem seems minor

WordNet

Os*ten"si*bly adverb
Definitions
  1. In an ostensible manner; avowedly; professedly; apparently. Walsh.
    Ostensibly, we were intended to prevent filibustering into Texas, but really as a menace to Mexico. U. S. Grant.

Webster 1913