putative

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

First attested 1432, from Modern French putatif, from French putativus (“‘supposed, purported’”) from putatus (“‘thought’”) from putō.

[edit] Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA: /ˈpju.tə.tɪv/

[edit] Adjective

putative (comparative more putative, superlative most putative)

Positive
putative

Comparative
more putative

Superlative
most putative
  1. Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.
    • 1879, Maurice Mauris, "A Materialistic Artist," New York Times, 9 Nov., p. 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 Angele 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, Unmesh Kher, "No Neat Endings for the JonBenet Case," Time, 18 Aug.:
      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.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

commonly believed or deemed to be the case

[edit] French

[edit] Adjective

putative

  1. Feminine form of putatif.

[edit] Italian

[edit] Adjective

putative f.

  1. Feminine plural form of putativo
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putative"