putative.

Generally supposed or reputed to have a particular identity or status, without secure confirmation.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a putative heir
• a putative cause

On the page

The putative heir arrived with documents no one had authenticated.

She treated the putative cause as a hypothesis rather than a conclusion.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more putative; superlative most putative where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.