putative

Definition

Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; generally assumed.

Etymology

First attested 1432, from Middle French putatif, from Latin putātīvus (“supposed, purported”), from putātus (“thought”), from putō (“I think, I consider, I reckon”).

Example Sentences

• "Just as Prince Sihanouk is fronting for the Khmer Rouge today . . . so also was he their putative leader from 1970 to 1975."
• "If they are in fact sound, then, of course, desire-utilitarianism need not account for the putative wrongness of infanticide."
• "This independence is still presupposed as a condition of agency; but this presupposition leaves in place the epistemic possibility that our putative freedom is illusory, that we are automata rather than agents."

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