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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