allege
/əˈlɛd͡ʒ/verb
allege is spelled A-L-L-E-G-E. The wrong spelling people search most is aledge: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Allege is a verb meaning “To adduce (something) as a reason, excuse, support etc”.
How many letters and syllables are in allege?
| Letters | 6: A-L-L-E-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,965th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, aledge, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell allege?
Allege is spelled A-L-L-E-G-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for allege in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is allege?
Allege appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce allege?
- /əˈlɛd͡ʒ/
Allege has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-allege.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of allege
- alleges present, singular, he/she/it
- alleging participle, present
- alleged participle, past
- alleadge
- alledg
- alledge
- allegge
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does allege mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo state under oath, to plead.
- 2
archaicTo cite or quote an author or his work for or against.
- 3
To adduce (something) as a reason, excuse, support etc.
- 4
To make a claim as justification or proof; to make an assertion without proof.
The agency alleged that my credit history had problems.
- 5
obsoleteTo lighten, diminish.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Allege in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | afirmar , alegar |
| French | prétendre, alléguer, prétexter |
| German | behaupten |
| Portuguese | alegar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does allege come from?
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”). See also al-.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).