allege
/əˈlɛd͡ʒ/
allege verb: to state under oath, to plead.
Verb (1)
allege (third-person singular simple present alleges, present participle alleging, simple past and past participle alleged)
- To state under oath, to plead.
- To cite or quote an author or his work for or against.
- To adduce (something) as a reason, excuse, support etc.
- I will further alleage a storie[…]to make us palpably feele his naturall condition.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 39, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- plead
- To make a claim as justification or proof; to make an assertion without proof.
- The agency alleged that my credit history had problems.
Verb (2)
allege (third-person singular simple present alleges, present participle alleging, simple past and past participle alleged)
- To lighten, diminish.
- and suffir never your soveraynté to be alledged with your subjects,1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich]...
- Hart that is inly hurt, is greatly eased / With hope of thing, that may allegge his smart[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
allege meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
allege in Tamil
- குற்றங்கூறு, வாதத்திற் குறிப்பிடு, அடித்துப்பேசு, சாட்டியுரை, வாதிடு, மென் சுவா
allege in Urdu
- عائد کرنا
allege in Bengali
- অভিযোগ করা
allege in Telugu
- to assert without proof
- ఆరోపించు ārōpiñcu
More languagesFewer languages
- allege in Malayalam
- ആരോപിക്കുക, ന്യായവാദം ചെയ്യുക, പഴിപറയുക
- allege in Kannada
- ಆಪಾದಿಸು, ಆರೋಪಣೆ ಮಾಡು
- allege in Thai
- กล่าวอ้าง
- allege in Vietnamese
- cáo buộc
Examples of allege in a sentence
- Atheism alleges that mindless scientific forces control the universe.
- The federal government called these locations “sanctuary jurisdictions,” alleging they were undermining the rule of law.
- In February, Trump suspended aid to South Africa, alleging discrimination against White farmers.
Synonyms of allege
Forms of allege
| third-person singular present | alleges |
|---|---|
| present participle | alleging |
| past participle | alleged |
| past | alleged |
| alternative form | alleadge |
| alternative form | alledg |
| alternative form | alledge |
| alternative form | allegge |
Origin of allege
From Middle English aleggen, perhaps from Old French alleguer, or from Anglo-Norman aleger, the form perhaps from Old French esligier (“to acquit”), from Medieval Latin *exlītigāre (“to clear at law”), from Latin ex (“out”) + lītigō (“sue at law”), but the meaning from Old French alleguer, from Latin allēgāre (“send on a mission, depute; relate, mention, adduce”), from ad (“to”) + lēgō (“send”). See also al-.
From Middle English alleggen, from Old French alegier, from Latin alleviāre (“lighten”), from ad + levis (“light”). Doublet of alleviate.
Words formed from allege
Words that rhyme with allege
Questions about allege
- What does allege mean?
- Allege means to state under oath, to plead.
- What is allege in Tamil?
- Allege in Tamil is குற்றங்கூறு, வாதத்திற் குறிப்பிடு, அடித்துப்பேசு. See Allege meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is allege?
- Allege is a verb.
- How do you pronounce allege?
- Allege is pronounced /əˈlɛd͡ʒ/.
- What is the past tense of allege?
- The past tense of allege is alleged.
Words near allege in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: allege (page history and authors); allege (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allege (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allege (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allege (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allege (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-allege.wav.
Cite this entry: “allege.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/allege. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.