It's the Word of the Day podcast for March 16th.
Today's word is putative, spelled P-U-T-A-T-I-V-E.
Putative is an adjective.
It's a formal word used to describe something that is generally believed,
supposed, or assumed to be something specified.
It's always used before a noun.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the New York Times.
The painting is swept up in questions of identity, provenance, authenticity, and putative value.
There's no need to make assumptions about the root behind the word putative.
We know it comes from a form of the Latin verb putare, which means to consider or to think.
Putative is a rather formal word that's been part of English since the 15th century.
Like the words apparent, presumed, and ostensible, it leaves room for a smidgen of doubt.
A putative ally will very probably be there for you,
and a putative successor is very likely to be the next one in charge.
But life offers no guarantees in either case.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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