Allege
verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To state under oath, to plead. obsolete, transitive
- 2 To lighten, diminish.
"and suffir never your soveraynté to be alledged with your subjects,"
- 3 report or maintain wordnet
- 4 To cite or quote an author or his work for or against. archaic
- 5 To adduce (something) as a reason, excuse, support etc. transitive
"I will further alleage a storie[…]to make us palpably feele his naturall condition."
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- 6 To make a claim as justification or proof; to make an assertion without proof. transitive
"The agency alleged that my credit history had problems."
Example
More examples"As our vehicle leaves the ground and plunges over the edge of the cliff toward the valley floor, I ponder whether it is possible that one might allege I am guilty of an act of moral failure, having failed to maintain a proper course along the roadway."
Etymology
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”).
From Middle English alleggen, from Old French alegier, from Latin alleviāre (“lighten”), from ad + levis (“light”). Doublet of alleviate.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.