putative

Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; generally assumed.

• Just as Prince Sihanouk is fronting for the Khmer Rouge today . . . so also was he their putative leader from 1970 to 1975.

Accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.

• In answer to the objection, that if a thing is only putative, it is fictitious
• You have the putative assumption, because everybody is interrogated, that everybody who has entered is heterosexual.

Alleged, purported, ostensible, professed.

• A putative love tonic was made from the water in which myrtle leaves and flowers had been steeped.
• Karr's past does raise suspicions. When he was arrested in Bangkok, he was living in a dormitory-like guesthouse in a neighborhood frequented by sex tourists. . . . Of course, Karr's putative pedophilia would not make him guilty of murder.

Prospective, potential, proposed.proscribedsometimes

• She requested that no announcement be made of the promised book until she had more of it down on paper. Having put some distance between herself and her putative book, she relaxed by continuing to lecture and to work on other projects.
• The text was then promptly rejected in France and a little later in the Netherlands and as these were both core founding members the putative constitution was politically finished.