as in seemingly
to all outward appearances
the lake's putatively pristine water is actually crawling with microorganisms that can wreak havoc with your gastrointestinal system
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Recent Examples of putatively
From the perspective of a world of increasingly unimaginable maldistribution of resources, cascading ecological collapse, a genocide cheered on by a putatively liberal order, both are barbarisms.
—
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for putatively
Adverb
-
That worked in Game 3, but Minnesota showed much better discipline in Game 4, seemingly having learned its lesson.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Put water under pressure, though, and its shape can compress and overlap in a seemingly endless bounty of possible patterns.—
Shalma Wegsman,
Quanta Magazine,
27 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
The writings sent to family members apparently did not specifically mention the White House Correspondents' Dinner.—
Nicole Sganga,
CBS News,
26 Apr. 2026
-
Two protesters briefly took over a small red carpet where guests were lined up to take professional photos; Times reporters saw a third woman dressed in a formal gown and shouting protest slogans being escorted out by security guards after apparently having entered the event.—
Justine McDaniel,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
That move, which came late in the litigation, seemingly underscored to jurors that, of the two billionaires, Musk is supposedly the one most committed to AI safety and AI as a public good.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Melillo says his first contact was with a woman who identified herself as attorney Victoria Hernández, who supposedly reviewed his case.—
Albinson Linares,
NBC news,
26 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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While the investigation was ostensibly about cost overruns in a Fed renovation project, many observers, including Tillis, considered that pretext.—
Andrea Riquier,
USA Today,
26 Apr. 2026
-
This is not the first time Anthropic has received investment from Google, even though Google is ostensibly competing with Anthropic over AI models.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
24 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Back in court as Pekara spoke, a police officer reached out to put her hand on the shoulder of a young man seated in one of the front rows, evidently a family member of one of the two officers.—
Caroline Kubzansky,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
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The Arsenal manager invoked a bed of roses and the accompaniment of celestial music and formed an expression to suggest anyone expecting that was evidently disconnected from the reality of a Premier League title race.—
Amy Lawrence,
New York Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
However, with Stanton presumably vacating the DH spot, the switch-hitting, defensively-subpar Domínguez, who is better from the left side, can help the Bombers against a string of right-handed starting pitchers.—
Gary Phillips,
New York Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Defenceman Kaiden Guhle took a big breath when asked about it, presumably to gather himself before answering.—
Arpon Basu,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
At this year's event, held at Pura Padel, Holland participated with other BERO higher-ups in a friendly tournament of padel, a racquet sport that's probably best described as a combination of squash and tennis.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
1 May 2026
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Voters will probably be bombarded with political ads and arguments from opposing sides as the battle intensifies.—
Queenie Wong,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Parsons had 12½ sacks in 14 games last year before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that ended his 2025 season prematurely and likely will prevent him from being available for the start of the next season.—
Steve Megargee,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Apr. 2026
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Casey was a left tackle at Boise State and chose to give up his final year of college eligibility to pursue the NFL, where teams likely view him as a guard.—
Zac Jackson,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Putatively.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putatively. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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