allege
v.to say that someone did something wrong or illegal without having proof yet. You use this when a claim is serious but not yet decided by a court.
v.to assert that someone has committed an illegal or wrong act, typically without offering proof. Transitive; often used in legal or journalistic contexts to avoid libel before a verdict is reached.
“The neighbors allege that he stole the bicycle.”
“The lawsuit continues to allege that the company knowingly ignored safety warnings before the accident occurred.”
“While the prosecution may allege that the defendant acted with premeditation, they must still provide physical evidence to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The verb is transitive and often takes a 'that' clause or an infinitive phrase.
Allege is not followed by 'of'; it requires a 'that' clause or a direct object representing the claim.
“He also alleges that stone taken from his land was registered under a settler’s name and resold.”
“Authorities allege Arjun killed his mother, 45-year-old Sudha Venkatesan, and his 14-year-old brother, Siddharth Aravind, inside the family’s home on Tuesday.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.