From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpurportpur‧port1 /pɜːˈpɔːt $ pɜːrˈpɔːrt/ verb [intransitive, transitive] formalSAY/STATE to claim to be or do something, even if this is not truepurport to do something Two undercover officers purporting to be dealers infiltrated the gang.be purported to be something The document is purported to be 300 years old. —purportedly adverb a portrait purportedly of Shakespeare→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
purport• Wolfgang von Goethe, recently liberated from his university studies of law, visited Ensisheim in 1771 to see the purported meteorite.• Clearing the house after a relative died, I came across what purports to be a passport to Hay-on-Wye.• It is true that this model does not purport to describe accurately the way in which the market economy actually functions.• Wasn't Rune Christensen as much a player of games as the man he purported to despise?• Such books purport to present the past ` as it was', taking for granted that this is what photographs do.• The relationship between an image and the reality it purports to represent is, according to many contemporary critics, inherently political.purport to do something• While purporting to adhere to precedent, the joint opinion instead revises it.• The book consisted of eighteen chapters; each defended his actions in what purported to be his own words.• Wasn't Rune Christensen as much a player of games as the man he purported to despise?• To the extent that it purports to do anything else, I respectfully dissent.• Examination of the theories which purport to provide an answer to this question is none the less important for a number of reasons.• However, in so far as it purports to strengthen that belief, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act is to be welcomed.• That rule does not purport to subject Winchester to the Rules.• They have always been unseemly, since they make a mockery of the moral values they purport to uphold.purportpur‧port2 /ˈpɜːpɔːt, -pət $ ˈpɜːrpɔːrt/ noun [uncountable] formalMEANING the general meaning of what someone saysExamples from the Corpus
purport• Why then did she not inform herself of the purport and effect of the transfer before signing it?• The purport of his remarks is already familiar.• The purport of that attack was to prove that generality could never be an intrinsic property of a mental content.Origin purport2 (1400-1500) Anglo-French purporter “to contain”, from Old French, from porter “to carry” 