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Nominal vs Ostensible - What's the difference?

nominal | ostensible |

As adjectives the difference between nominal and ostensible

is that nominal is of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names while ostensible is apparent, evident; meant for open display.

As a noun nominal

is a noun or word group that functions as a noun phrase.

nominal

Adjective

(-)
  • Of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names.
  • Assigned to or bearing a person's name.
  • Existing in name only.
  • a nominal difference
  • * (rfdate)
  • Nominal attendance on lectures.
  • (philosophy) Of or relating to nominalism.
  • (senseid) Insignificantly small; trifling.
  • He gave me only a nominal sum for my services.
  • Of or relating to the presumed or approximate value, rather than the actual value.
  • The nominal voltage is 1.5 V, but the actual figure is usually higher.
  • (finance) Of, relating to, or being the amount or face value of a sum of money or a stock certificate, for example, and not the purchasing power or market value.
  • (finance) Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation.
  • (grammar) Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.
  • This sentence contains a nominal phrase.
  • (engineering) According to plan or design; normal.
  • We'll just do a nominal flight check.
    Apart from the slightly high temperature, all the readings from the spacecraft are nominal .
  • (economics) Without adjustment to remove the effects of inflation; contrasted with real.
  • My employer does not understand how low my nominal wage is.
    The nominal GNP of this country is pretty low.
  • * 1991 , Richard J. Gilbert, Regulatory Choices: A Perspective on Developments in Energy Policy , page 267,
  • Comparisons of the costs of the Diablo Canyon plant with other nuclear power plants can be misleading because the available cost data are in nominal dollars and therefore include the toll of inflation over the construction periods.
  • * 2001 , Erich A. Helfert, Financial Analysis: Tools and Techniques: A Guide for Managers , page 467,
  • This simple process allows us to convert nominal dollars into inflation-adjusted real dollars.
  • (statistics, of a variable) Having values whose order is insignificant.
  • Antonyms

    * (economics) real

    Derived terms

    * denominal * nominalness * nominally

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (grammar) A noun or word group that functions as a noun phrase.
  • This sentence contains two nominals .
  • (grammar) A part of speech that shares features with nouns and adjectives.
  • Hyponyms

    * noun * pronoun

    Anagrams

    * ----

    ostensible

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Apparent, evident; meant for open display.
  • * 1956–1960 , (second edition, 1960), chapter ii: “Motives and Motivation”, page 32:
  • Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.
  • * '>citation
  • In witch-trials the conflict was officially defined as between the accused and God, or between the accused and the Catholic (later Protestant) church, as God's earthly representative. [...]
    Behind the ostensible conflict of the witch-trial lay the usual conflicts of social class, values, and human relationships.
  • Appearing as such; being such in appearance; professed, supposed (rather than demonstrably true or real).
  • The ostensible reason for his visit to New York was to see his mother, but the real reason was to get to the Yankees game the next day.

    Derived terms

    * ostensibly

    Antonyms

    * (meant for open display)

    References

    * ----