putative

adj

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

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

   “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.”

2. Accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.

   “In answer to the objection, that if a thing is only putative, it is fictitious”

   “[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.”

3. Alleged, purported, ostensible, professed.

   “A putative love tonic was made from the water in which myrtle leaves and flowers had been steeped.”

   “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.”

4. Prospective, potential, proposed.

   “Paralleling this extension of government control was the development of a formally constituted opposition […] In some cases a former Prime Minister was clearly acknowledged as leader and putative Prime Minister, in others a generally-accepted leader emerged.”

   “She requested that no announcement be made of the promised book until she had more of it down on paper. Having put some distance between herself and her putative book, she relaxed by continuing to lecture and to work on other projects.”