OSTEN'SIBLE, adjective [Latin ostendo, to show.] 1. That may be shown; proper or intended to be shown. 2. Plausible; colorable. 3. Appearing; seeming; shown, declared or avowed. We say, the ostensible reason or motive for a measure may be the real one, or very different from the real one. This is the common, and I believe the only sense in which the word is used in America. One of the ostensible grounds on which the proprietors had obtained their charter -
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI