Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Generally regarded as such; supposed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Supposed; reputed; commonly thought or deemed: as, the putative father of a child.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Commonly thought or deemed; supposed; reputed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective purported; commonly put forth or accepted as true on inconclusive grounds

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French putatif, from Late Latin putātīvus, from Latin putāre, to prune, think; see pau- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested 1432, from Middle French putatif, from Latin putātīvus ("supposed, purported"), from putātus ("thought"), from putō.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Something both repels and attracts to this word, me-putes.

    November 10, 2009

  • You can pute that again.

    November 10, 2009

  • The putative lover he accused him of seeing.

    June 14, 2010