putative

English

WOTD – 7 March 2010

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpju.tə.tɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpju.tə.tɪv/, [ˈpju.ɾə.ɾɪv]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʉ.tə.tɪv/, [ˈpjʉ.ɾə.ɾɪv]

Adjective

putative (comparative more putative, superlative most putative)

1. (derogatory) Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.

   Synonyms: ostensible, purported, reputed, supposed

   • 1879 November 9, Maurice Mauris, “A Materialistic Artist”, in New York Times, page 10:

     [T]he lady . . . insisted upon going herself, requesting me to mind for a second the baby. . . . lo! the baby awoke and stared at me with a pair of big frightened eyes, which the little thing in another moment rolled in all directions, as if in search of its putative mother.

   • 1989, William E. Colby and Jeremy J. Stone, "US must support Thailand if Cambodia is to survive," Milwaukee Sentinel (Los Angeles Times Service), 28 Oct. (retrieved 15 Sep. 2009):

     Just as Prince Sihanouk is fronting for the Khmer Rouge today . . . so also was he their putative leader from 1970 to 1975.

   • 2006 August 18, Unmesh Kher, “No Neat Endings for the JonBenet Case”, in Time:

     Karr's past does raise suspicions. When he was arrested in Bangkok, he was living in a dormitory-like guesthouse in a neighborhood frequented by sex tourists. . . . Of course, Karr's putative pedophilia would not make him guilty of murder.

   • 2016 August 11, Mary Karr, “The Crotchgrabber”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:

     I’ve been subject to several gropings and gross jibes of the type you’d expect behind a junior-high gym dance, and they’ve been delivered by grownups, putative pals, not one of whom I even dimly considered getting jiggy with.

Derived terms

• putative marriage

Translations

commonly believed or deemed to be the case

• Armenian: ենթադրյալ (hy) (entʻadryal)
• Bulgarian: мним (bg) (mnim), предполагаем (bg) (predpolagaem)
• Catalan: putatiu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 推定的 (zh) (tuīdìng de), 假定的 (zh) (jiǎdìng de)

• Czech: domnělý (cs) m, putativní c
• Dutch: zogenaamd (nl), vermoedelijk (nl), vermeend (nl)
• Estonian: arvatav, oletatav
• Finnish: oletettu (fi)
• French: putatif (fr), présumé (fr)
• German: mutmaßlich (de), vermeintlich (de), angeblich (de)
• Greek: φερόμενος (ως) (ferómenos (os)), υποτιθέμενος (el) (ypotithémenos)
• Hungarian: feltételezett (hu), vélelmezett (hu), vélt (hu)
• Icelandic: meintur m
• Italian: putativo (it)
• Japanese: 推定 (ja) (すいてい, suitei)
• Macedonian: претпоставен m (pretpostaven), наводен m (navoden)
• Norwegian: antatt, formentlig, formodet
• Polish: domniemany (pl) m, przypuszczalny (pl) m
• Portuguese: putativo (pt) m
• Russian: предположи́тельный (ru) (predpoložítelʹnyj), вероя́тный (ru) (verojátnyj), мни́мый (ru) (mnímyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: претпо̀стављен, наводан, вје̏роја̄тан

  Roman: pretpòstavljen (sh), navodan, vjȅrojātan (sh)

• Spanish: presunto (es), supuesto (es), putativo (es) (only for relatives)
• Swedish: förment (sv), förmodad (sv)
• Turkish: varsayılan, farz edilen, varsayımsal (tr)
• Ukrainian: га́даний (hádanyj), припусти́мий (prypustýmyj)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py.ta.tiv/
• Homophone: putatives

Adjective

putative

1. feminine singular of putatif

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /putaˈtiːvə/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

putative

1. inflection of putativ:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu.taˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: pu‧ta‧tì‧ve

Adjective

putative

1. feminine plural of putativo

Anagrams

• putivate