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alleged - 5 dictionary results

al⋅leged

  [uh-lejd, uh-lej-id]
Use alleged in a Sentence
–adjective
1. declared or stated to be as described; asserted: The alleged murderer could not be located for questioning.
2. doubtful; suspect; supposed: The alleged cure-all produced no results when it was tested by reputable doctors.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME; see allege, -ed 2

al⋅lege

  [uh-lej]
–verb (used with object), -leged, -leg⋅ing.
1. to assert without proof.
2. to declare with positiveness; affirm; assert: to allege a fact.
3. to declare before a court or elsewhere, as if under oath.
4. to plead in support of; offer as a reason or excuse.
5. Archaic. to cite or quote in confirmation.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME alleg(g)en, prob. < OF aleguer (< ML, L allēgāre to adduce in support of a plea; see allegation ), conflated with AF, OF aleg(i)er to justify, free, lit., to lighten (< LL alleviāre; see alleviate ); homonymous ME v. alleg(g)en, with literal sense of OF aleg(i)er, replaced by allay in 16th cent.

Related forms:
al⋅lege⋅a⋅ble, adjective
al⋅leg⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. See maintain. 2. state, asseverate, aver. 3. attest.

Antonyms:
2. deny.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To alleged
al·lege   (ə-lěj')   
tr.v.   al·leged, al·leg·ing, al·leg·es
  1. To assert to be true; affirm: alleging his innocence of the charge.
  2. To assert without or before proof: The indictment alleges that the commissioner took bribes.
  3. To state (a plea or excuse, for example) in support or denial of a claim or accusation: The defendant alleges temporary insanity.
  4. Archaic To bring forward as an authority.

[Middle English alleggen, from Old French alegier, to vindicate, justify (influenced by aleguer, to give a reason), from esligier, to pay a fine, justify oneself, from Late Latin *exlītigāre, to clear at law : Latin ex-, out; see ex- + Latin lītigāre, to sue; see litigate.]
al·lege'a·ble adj., al·leg'er n.
al·leged   (ə-lějd', ə-lěj'ĭd)   
adj.  Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.
al·leg'ed·ly (ə-lěj'ĭd-lē) adv.
Usage Note: An alleged burglar is someone who has been accused of being a burglar but against whom no charges have been proved. An alleged incident is an event that is said to have taken place but has not yet been verified. In their zeal to protect the rights of the accused, newspapers and law enforcement officials sometimes misuse alleged. Someone arrested for murder may be only an alleged murderer, for example, but is a real, not an alleged, suspect in that his or her status as a suspect is not in doubt. Similarly, if the money from a safe is known to have been stolen and not merely mislaid, then we may safely speak of a theft without having to qualify our description with alleged.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Main Entry: al·leged
Pronunciation: &-'lejd, -'le-j&d
Function: adjective
1 : asserted to be true; especially : stated in an allegation <alleged crimes>
2 : accused but not yet proven or convicted alleged war criminals —Railroad G. Neumann>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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