on paper
judging something by how it has been planned rather than how it really works in practice:
The design certainly looks good on paper.
 Several candidates seemed suitable on paper but failed the interview.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Seeming and purporting to be
- apparent
 - as if/though idiom
 - by the look(s) of things idiom
 - come
 - come across
 - come over
 - face
 - outward
 - paper
 - persona
 - prima facie
 - purport
 - putative
 - reportedly
 - so-called
 - sound
 - supposed
 - supposedly
 - verisimilitude
 - you can't judge a book by its cover idiom
 
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