putative

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpju.tə.tɪv/

Adjective

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 Angeles 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.

   • 2016 August 11, Mary Karr, “The Crotchgrabber”, in The New Yorker‎:

     I’ve been subject to several gropings and gross jibes of the type you’d expect behind a junior-high gym dance, and they’ve been delivered by grownups, putative pals, not one of whom I even dimly considered getting jiggy with.

Adjective

putative

1. feminine singular of putatif

Adjective

putative

1. inflected form of putativ

Adjective

putative

1. Feminine plural form of putativo