Meaning & use

purported

adjective·Academic

Claimed or alleged to be true or to have happened, though not proven or necessarily accurate.

See it in a sentence

The purported cure for the illness turned out to have no scientific support at all.

Police investigated the purported eyewitness who claimed to have seen the accident.

A note on using this word

Purported signals the writer's doubt or neutrality about a claim and is common in careful journalism and legal writing.

Words with a similar meaning

allegedsupposed

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

confirmedverified

Make it your own

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