Wordnet 3.0
ADVERB (1)
1. 
 from appearances alone; 
- Example: "irrigation often produces bumper crops from apparently desert land"- Example: "the child is seemingly healthy but the doctor is concerned"- Example: "had been ostensibly frank as to his purpose while really concealing it"-Thomas Hardy- Example: "on the face of it the problem seems minor"[syn: apparently, seemingly, ostensibly, on the face of it]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
on the face of it
    adv 1: from appearances alone; "irrigation often produces bumper
           crops from apparently desert land"; "the child is
           seemingly healthy but the doctor is concerned"; "had been
           ostensibly frank as to his purpose while really
           concealing it"-Thomas Hardy; "on the face of it the
           problem seems minor" [syn: apparently, seemingly,
           ostensibly, on the face of it]