Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An assertion that someone has done something wrong, often without proof.
  • noun Law An assertion that someone has engaged in an unlawful act.

from The Century Dictionary.

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

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of alleging or positively asserting.
  • noun That which is alleged, asserted, or declared; positive assertion; formal averment.
  • noun (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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An assertion, especially an accusation, not necessarily based on facts.
  • noun The act of alleging.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French allégation, from Latin allēgātiō, allēgātiōn-, from allēgātus, past participle of allēgāre, to dispatch, adduce : ad-, ad- + lēgāre, to depute; see legate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French allégation, from Latin allegatio, from allegare. See allege.

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Examples

  • The term allegation implies just that, alleged, an unproved assertion.

    Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local 2009

  • The term allegation implies just that, alleged, an unproved assertion.

    Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local 2009

  • "I can reassure the British public that we are very careful in who we fund and this allegation is a very rare one for us but one that causes a great deal of concern."

    Archive 2008-08-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • Bart: To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • Bart: To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

  • To start, I would love to see the actual transcript of that oral argument to see if this allegation is accurate.

    Balkinization 2006

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