allege
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to assert without proof.
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to declare with positiveness; affirm; assert.
to allege a fact.
- Synonyms:
- aver, asseverate, state
- Antonyms:
- deny
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to declare before a court or elsewhere, as if under oath.
- Synonyms:
- attest
-
to plead in support of; offer as a reason or excuse.
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Archaic. to cite or quote in confirmation.
verb
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to declare in or as if in a court of law; state without or before proof
he alleged malpractice
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to put forward (an argument or plea) for or against an accusation, claim, etc
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archaic to cite or quote, as to confirm
Usage
What does allege mean? To allege is to make an accusation or claim, especially about a crime or wrongdoing. The word often implies that the thing claimed has not been confirmed or proven or that the claim has been made without proof or before proof is available. Forms of allege include the adjective alleged, the adverb allegedly, and the noun allegation (meaning an accusation or claim). Allege is most commonly used in a legal context and in journalism in reports about crime or other wrongdoing before it has been proven or before someone has been convicted. Using the word alleged allows journalists to talk about allegations without seeming to presume guilt (and getting sued for libel). Example: Investigators are alleging that Mr. Jones stole from the company over a period of 15 years.
Synonym Usage
See maintain.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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allegernoun
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misallegeverb (used with object)
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preallegeverb (used with object)
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reallegeverb (used with object)
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allegeableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
allegesimple
-
allegessimple
-
have allegedperfect
-
has allegedperfect
-
am allegingprogressive
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are allegingprogressive
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is allegingprogressive
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have been allegingperfect progressive
-
has been allegingperfect progressive
Past
-
allegedsimple
-
had allegedperfect
-
was allegingprogressive
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were allegingprogressive
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had been allegingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of allege
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English alleg(g)en, probably from Old French aleguer, from Medieval Latin, Latin allēgāre “to adduce in support of a plea” ( see allegation), conflated with Anglo-French, Old French aleg(i)er, “to justify, free,” literally, “to lighten,” from Late Latin alleviāre “to lighten, relieve” ( see alleviate); homonymous Middle English verb alleg(g)en, with literal sense of Old French aleg(i)er, replaced by allay in 16th century
Explanation
If you accuse someone of committing a crime but the proof of the wrongdoing isn't yet found, use the verb allege. You might allege that your sister broke a vase, just because no one else was home when you heard the crash. If you ever watch news programs, you often hear the verb allege. A reporter might say that detectives allege that a certain person, who is now being held without bail, set a fire. This can be confusing: If the person is in jail, then he or she must have set that fire, right? In reality, the person is a suspect, alleged with starting a fire, and awaiting trial. In the United States, people are assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Vocabulary lists containing allege
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
California and the 11 other states, including New York, New Jersey, Washington and Colorado, allege the merger would devastate the theatrical film business by combining two historic film studio rivals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Prosecutors allege Robinson was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
If Ms. Wilson has tinkered with Homer’s value system, as some allege, she has also kept closer than others to the original length and meter of the poem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Hassan went on to allege some kind of bias from Fifa.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
I did not like to walk at this hour alone with Mr. Rochester in the shadowy orchard; but I could not find a reason to allege for leaving him.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
The lawsuit alleges that Sheriff Robert Luna failed to confiscate Giandomenico’s phone after learning of the photos and tried to conceal from Nancy Lemus that the images existed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
The company also didn’t obtain a court order before selling or auctioning the vehicles, the lawsuit alleges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The lawsuit alleges that Meta used a range of AI-assisted systems to score, rank and select employees to include on its layoff list.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The lawsuit alleges the replacement tickets many fans were given by StubHub were worse than their original tickets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
An unsubstantiated report alleges that a Ridgeback carried off a whale calf off the coast of Norway in 1802.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
Prosecutors had alleged that Deepak Jain, chief executive of AiNET, misled the SEC into awarding him $10.7 million for providing it with the use of his firm’s data center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
In the immediate aftermath of the 2025 blast, Nancy Lemus alleged in her lawsuit that Sheriff Cmdr.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
British prosecutors said Saturday the brothers are facing a total of 59 charges for alleged offenses that took place between 2010 and 2017.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
He alleged the centres were used "to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment".
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
The alleged sheep contained an oat-tropic circuit; at the sight of such cereals it would scramble up convincingly and amble over.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Thompson sued FanDuel, Morgan, DraftKings and the NFL in March, alleging that the sportsbooks caused him to lose about $1.6 million while betting an estimated $18.5 million over a four-year period.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The paper had published stories alleging that the Qatari-gifted plane was not secure enough, and the Secret Service urged Trump to switch planes on his way home from a Nato summit in Turkey.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
That building is now at the center of a more than $30 million lawsuit alleging that the developer was responsible for construction and renovation that led to “life threatening” conditions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Bloomberg reported in May that OpenAI was itself considering legal action against Apple, alleging the tech giant had failed to adequately promote the ChatGPT integration.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
