From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishostensibleos‧ten‧si‧ble /ɒˈstensəbəl $ ɑː-/ adjective PRETENDseeming to be the reason for or the purpose of something, but usually hiding the real reason or purposeostensible reason/purpose/aim The ostensible reason for his resignation was ill health.
Examples from the Corpus
ostensible• The war was fought to remove a cruel dictator - at least that was the ostensible aim.• Does Astrophil, who is the ostensible author, mean he loves truth or that it is true he is in love?• These experiences left him skeptical of the ostensible benefits of closing the glass subsidiary.• Ongoing problems seem to arise of their own accord, and then to spread through the ranks with no ostensible cause.• He similarly assumes that exile players are only qualified for the clubs' ostensible countries of origin.• Intel carefully skirted the issues of Pentium's price and delivery at its ostensible introduction last month.• The ostensible reason for this outlay was that kerosene was the lighting fuel of the poor.ostensible reason/purpose/aim• This makes even more nonsensical its ostensible reasons for the land invasions.• The ostensible reason for this outlay was that kerosene was the lighting fuel of the poor.• The ostensible reason was Mr Moussa's supposedly unauthorised dialogue with representatives of the main radical religious group, the Jamaat Islamiya.Origin ostensible (1700-1800) French Latin ostendere “to show” 