Does “ostensibly ” make sense in this sentence?
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
Does ostensibly make sense in this sentence?
An ostensibly perfect world destroys itself
What I'm trying to convey is
A so-called perfect world destroyed itself
But so-called is not very academic.
Thanks in advance!
meaning word-choice meaning-in-context
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
Does ostensibly make sense in this sentence?
An ostensibly perfect world destroys itself
What I'm trying to convey is
A so-called perfect world destroyed itself
But so-called is not very academic.
Thanks in advance!
meaning word-choice meaning-in-context
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
1
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
1
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
Does ostensibly make sense in this sentence?
An ostensibly perfect world destroys itself
What I'm trying to convey is
A so-called perfect world destroyed itself
But so-called is not very academic.
Thanks in advance!
meaning word-choice meaning-in-context
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Does ostensibly make sense in this sentence?
An ostensibly perfect world destroys itself
What I'm trying to convey is
A so-called perfect world destroyed itself
But so-called is not very academic.
Thanks in advance!
meaning word-choice meaning-in-context
meaning word-choice meaning-in-context
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
edited Dec 13 at 16:58
Spencer
3,7491125
3,7491125
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
asked Dec 12 at 17:43
MarsNebulaSoup
52
52
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
1
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
1
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56
add a comment |
2
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
1
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
1
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56
2
2
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
1
1
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
1
1
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Ostensibly does make sense here, but its meaning, although close to that of so-called, is not quite the same. As can be seen from Gwendolyn's comment, ostensibly is largely synonymous with apparently; the first sentence thus implies that the world appeared perfect, but it does not imply that anybody ever called it perfect. On the other hand, so-called in the second sentence makes it imply that people in fact used the word perfect to characterize the world, but it does not imply that they actually regarded is as perfect (they could have been using the word insincerely).
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476843%2fdoes-ostensibly-make-sense-in-this-sentence%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Ostensibly does make sense here, but its meaning, although close to that of so-called, is not quite the same. As can be seen from Gwendolyn's comment, ostensibly is largely synonymous with apparently; the first sentence thus implies that the world appeared perfect, but it does not imply that anybody ever called it perfect. On the other hand, so-called in the second sentence makes it imply that people in fact used the word perfect to characterize the world, but it does not imply that they actually regarded is as perfect (they could have been using the word insincerely).
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Ostensibly does make sense here, but its meaning, although close to that of so-called, is not quite the same. As can be seen from Gwendolyn's comment, ostensibly is largely synonymous with apparently; the first sentence thus implies that the world appeared perfect, but it does not imply that anybody ever called it perfect. On the other hand, so-called in the second sentence makes it imply that people in fact used the word perfect to characterize the world, but it does not imply that they actually regarded is as perfect (they could have been using the word insincerely).
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Ostensibly does make sense here, but its meaning, although close to that of so-called, is not quite the same. As can be seen from Gwendolyn's comment, ostensibly is largely synonymous with apparently; the first sentence thus implies that the world appeared perfect, but it does not imply that anybody ever called it perfect. On the other hand, so-called in the second sentence makes it imply that people in fact used the word perfect to characterize the world, but it does not imply that they actually regarded is as perfect (they could have been using the word insincerely).
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
Ostensibly does make sense here, but its meaning, although close to that of so-called, is not quite the same. As can be seen from Gwendolyn's comment, ostensibly is largely synonymous with apparently; the first sentence thus implies that the world appeared perfect, but it does not imply that anybody ever called it perfect. On the other hand, so-called in the second sentence makes it imply that people in fact used the word perfect to characterize the world, but it does not imply that they actually regarded is as perfect (they could have been using the word insincerely).
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
answered Dec 13 at 17:17
jsw29
1,226318
1,226318
add a comment |
add a comment |
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
MarsNebulaSoup is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476843%2fdoes-ostensibly-make-sense-in-this-sentence%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
2
ostensibly - "As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently." If that is the meaning you're want to imply by using that word, then yes, it works. A good way to find alternatives to words is by looking at synonyms in a thesaurus.
– Gwendolyn
Dec 12 at 18:55
1
@Gwendolyn Thank you!
– MarsNebulaSoup
Dec 12 at 18:57
Google Scholar returns "about 5,670,000 results" for me for so-called, so I don't know the basis for your considering it "not very academic."
– choster
Dec 13 at 4:30
1
@choster "so-called" implies that someone is being deceitful. "ostensibly" is more neutral. All of these word-choice questions require loads of context.
– Spencer
Dec 13 at 16:56