Supposedly

//səˈpəʊ̯.zɪd.li// adv, slang

adv, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    As a matter of supposition; in the beliefs or according to the claims of some people. not-comparable

    "Near-synonyms: supposably, reportedly, reputedly, purportedly, putatively, rumoredly, allegedly, ostensibly, possibly, probably, likely, plausibly"

  2. 2
    Used in place of "supposed to be," often in informal or colloquial speech, as a mispronunciation. Philippines, informal, not-comparable

    "My parents told me I am supposedly in bed by 10 P.M."

Adverb
  1. 1
    believed or reputed to be the case wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
purportedlyallegedlyallegedlyas it weredoubtlesslikely

Example

More examples

"Even though we're supposedly in a recession, people are traveling abroad in record numbers this Golden Week holiday."

Etymology

From supposed + -ly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.