Ostensible vs Superficial - What's the difference?
ostensible | superficial |
Apparent, evident; meant for open display.
* 1956–1960 , (second edition, 1960), chapter ii: “Motives and Motivation”, page 32:
* '>citation
Appearing as such; being such in appearance; professed, supposed (rather than demonstrably true or real).
Shallow, lacking substance.
At face value.
*
Of or pertaining to the surface.
Being near the surface.
(rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.
(chiefly in plural) A surface detail.
As adjectives the difference between ostensible and superficial
is that ostensible is apparent, evident; meant for open display while superficial is shallow, lacking substance.As a noun superficial is
a surface detail.ostensible
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- 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.
- 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.
- 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
* ostensiblyAntonyms
* (meant for open display)References
* ----superficial
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.
Synonyms
* (of or pertaining to the surface) surficialAntonyms
* in-depth * thorough * (lacking substance) substantiveNoun
(en noun)- He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.