Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (1)
1.
purported;
commonly put forth or accepted as true on inconclusive grounds;
- Example: "the foundling's putative father"- Example: "the putative author of the book"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Putative \Pu"ta*tive\, a. [L. putativus, fr. putare, putatum, to
reckon, suppose, adjust, prune, cleanse. See Pure, and cf.
Amputate, Compute, Dispute, Impute.]
Commonly thought or deemed; supposed; reputed; as, the
putative father of a child. "His other putative (I dare not
say feigned) friends." --E. Hall.
[1913 Webster]
Thus things indifferent, being esteemed useful or
pious, became customary, and then came for reverence
into a putative and usurped authority. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
putative
adj 1: purported; commonly put forth or accepted as true on
inconclusive grounds; "the foundling's putative father";
"the putative author of the book"