allege
pronunciation
How to pronounce allege in British English:
UK [əˈledʒ]
How to pronounce allege in American English:
US [əˈledʒ]
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- Verb:
- report or maintain
Word Origin
- allege
- allege: [14] Allege is related to law, legal, legislation, legation, and litigation. Its original source was Vulgar Latin *exlitigāre, which meant ‘clear of charges in a lawsuit’ (from ex- ‘out of’ and litigāre ‘litigate’). This developed successively into Old French esligier and Anglo- Norman alegier, from where it was borrowed into English; there, its original meaning was ‘make a declaration before a legal tribunal’.Early traces of the notion of making an assertion without proof can be detected within 50 years of the word’s introduction into English, but it took a couple of centuries to develop fully. The hard g of allegation suggests that though it is ultimately related to allege, it comes from a slightly different source: Latin allēgātiō, from allēgāre ‘adduce’, a compound verb formed from ad- ‘to’ and lēgāre ‘charge’ (source of English legate and legation).=> law, legal, legation, legislation, litigation
- allege (v.)
- c. 1300. It has the form of one French verb and the meaning of another. The form is Anglo-French aleger, Old French eslegier "to clear at law," from Latin ex- "out of" (see ex-) and litigare "bring suit" (see litigate); however eslegier meant "acquit, clear of charges in a lawsuit." It somehow acquired the meaning of French alléguer, from Latin allegare "send for, bring forth, name, produce in evidence," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + legare "to depute, send" (see legate). Related: Alleged; alleging.
Example
- 1. Some media reports allege ill-treatment of farm workers .
- 2. Moreover , western politics is less broken than many allege .
- 3. Prosecutors allege that mr lee and a top aide skimmed off the rest .
- 4. The us and other western allies allege that iran is readying nuclear weapons .
- 5. Police officers are now routinely arresting people in order to add their dna sample to the national police database , an inquiry will allege tomorrow .