allege
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 19 March 2024
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2024 is:
allege • \uh-LEJ\ • verb
To allege something is to assert it without proof or before proving it.
// Consumer advocates allege that the company knew about the faulty switches but sold the product anyway.
Examples:
"The lawsuit alleges violation of her 4th Amendment rights, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, assault and battery, among other charges." — Erin B. Logan, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2024
Did you know?
These days, someone alleges something before presenting evidence to prove it (or perhaps without evidence at all). But the word allege comes directly from the Middle English verb alleggen, meaning "to submit (something) in evidence or as justification." (Alleggen traces back to the Anglo-French word aleger, meaning "to lighten, free, or exculpate.") Our word has at times in the past carried a meaning closer to that of its ancestor's: it was once applied when bringing someone or something forward as a source or authority in court, as in "a text alleged in support of the argument." The word has also been used to mean "to bring forward as a reason or excuse," as in these lines from Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre: "I did not like to walk at this hour alone with Mr. Rochester in the shadowy orchard; but I could not find a reason to allege for leaving him."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for March 19th. |
| 0:07.0 | Today's word is |
| 0:11.0 | Today's word is Alleged, spelled A-l-e-g-e-e-e-e-e-a-e-e-a-e-e-e-e-e-e-e a ledge is a verb to |
| 0:17.2 | allege something is to assert it without proof or before proving it. Here's the word used in a sentence from the L.A. Times by Aaron B Logan. |
| 0:27.0 | The lawsuit alleges violation of her Fourth Amendment rights, |
| 0:31.0 | false imprisonment, negligent hiring, assault and battery, among other charges. |
| 0:37.0 | These days, someone alleges something before presenting evidence to prove it, or perhaps without evidence at all. But the word |
| 0:45.2 | alleged comes directly from the middle English verb a leggen meaning to submit |
| 0:50.6 | something in evidence or as justification. A leggen traces back to the Anglo-French word |
| 0:56.8 | alegier meaning to lighten, to free or to exculpate. Our word has at times in the past carried a meaning closer to that of its |
| 1:06.4 | ancestors. It was once applied when bringing someone or something forward as a source or authority in court, as in a text alleged in |
| 1:16.1 | support of the argument. The word has also been used to mean to bring forward as a |
| 1:22.0 | reason or excuse, as in these lines from Charlotte Brontes 1847 novel |
| 1:28.1 | Jane Eyre. I did not like to walk at this hour alone with Mr Rochester in the shadowy orchard, but I could not |
| 1:36.0 | find a reason to allege for leaving him. |
| 1:39.0 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sakalowski. Visit Marion Webster.com today for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups. |
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