Ostensible means appearing to be true or real on the surface, but possibly hiding the actual truth underneath. When something is ostensible, it's what people claim or what seems obvious at first glance, though the reality might be different.

Imagine a student whose ostensible reason for joining the robotics club is to learn about engineering, but whose real reason is to spend time with a friend. Or consider a politician whose ostensible goal is improving education, while their actual goal might be winning votes. The ostensible explanation is the official story, the one presented to the world.

The word often carries a hint of skepticism. When you describe something as ostensible, you're suggesting there might be more to the story. If someone says “the ostensible purpose of the meeting was to discuss homework,” they're implying the meeting had some other, perhaps hidden, purpose.

You might also see the related word ostensibly, meaning “apparently” or “supposedly.” A character in a novel might ostensibly be helping the hero while secretly working against them. The word reminds us that what people say and what they actually mean aren't always the same thing.