allegation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Something alleged; an assertion: allegations of disloyalty.
2. n. The act of alleging.
3. n. A statement asserting something without proof: The newspaper's charges of official wrongdoing were mere allegations.
4. n. Law An assertion made by a party that must be proved or supported with evidence.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Theact of alleging; affirmation; declaration: as, “erroneous allegations of fact,” Hallam.
2. n. That which is alleged or asserted; that which is offered as a plea, an excuse, or a justification; an assertion.
3. n. In law: The assertion or statement of a party to a suit or other proceeding, civil or criminal, which he undertakes to prove.
4. n. The plaintiff's first pleading in a testamentary cause.
5. n. In eccles. suits, any pleading subsequent to the first.

Wiktionary

1. n. An assertion, especially an accusation, not necessarily based on facts.
2. n. The act of alleging.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of alleging or positively asserting.
2. n. That which is alleged, asserted, or declared; positive assertion; formal averment.
3. n. (Law) A statement by a party of what he undertakes to prove, -- usually applied to each separate averment; the charge or matter undertaken to be proved.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (law) a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court of law)
2. n. statements affirming or denying certain matters of fact that you are prepared to prove