on the face of it

1. 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”

   “on the face of it the problem seems minor”

   Synonymsapparentlyseeminglyostensibly

Questions about on the face of it

What does on the face of it mean?

on the face of it means "from appearances alone".

What is another word for on the face of it?

Close synonyms include apparently, seemingly, ostensibly. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.