OSTENSIBLE

PRONUNCIATION: ah-STEN-suh-buhl)

MEANING: adjective: Appearing as such; supposed.

ETYMOLOGY: From French ostensible, from Latin ostendere (to show, stretch out), from ob- (in front of) + tendere (to stretch). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which also gave us tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, detente, countenance, distend, extenuate, tenable, tenuous, abstentious, and impertinent. Earliest documented use: 1743.

adjective: Appearing as such; supposed.

ETYMOLOGY: From French ostensible, from Latin ostendere (to show, stretch out), from ob- (in front of) + tendere (to stretch). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which also gave us tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, detente, countenance, distend, extenuate, tenable, tenuous, abstentious, and impertinent. Earliest documented use: 1743.
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OSENSIBLE - Irish pragmatism

OSTEN SABLE - a small carnivore found in the forests, flat lands and mountainous areas of east Asia.

OSTENS BIBLE - Holy Writ owned by the author of Jane Eyre