Adjective

(en-adj)

(usually, not comparable) Able but not certain to happen; neither inevitable nor impossible.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;

(comparable) Capable of being done or achieved; feasible.

* {{quote-book, 1901, Louis Freeland Smith, The Public, volume=4, page=438, pageurl=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000080738168&page=search;seq=444;view=image;num=438

, passage=And success in minor degree, in the sense in which he uses the term "success," is only somewhat more possible than success in winning the White House chair.}}

* {{quote-news, 1993, September 10, Lee Michael Katz, Expectant Mideast hopes to bear twin peace deals, USA Today, page=2A citation

, passage=Peace between Israel and the Arab countries is "more possible than any time before," says ex-Arab League U.N. ambassador Clovis Maskoud. }}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible . Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}

Being considered, e.g. for a position.

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.