To allege means to claim that something is true without yet having proof. When someone alleges that a rule was broken, they're saying they believe it happened, but they haven't proven it yet. A witness might allege that they saw someone take a missing laptop, or a student might allege that a test was graded unfairly.

The word appears most often in legal and news contexts. Reporters write that someone “allegedly” committed a crime because courts haven't proven guilt yet. Our legal system treats people as innocent until proven guilty, so we use allege to describe accusations that haven't been tested in court. An allegation is the claim itself: “The allegation turned out to be false after investigators checked the security footage.”

Using allege carefully matters because accusations can damage someone's reputation even when they're innocent. If you say “Marcus cheated,” you're stating it as fact. If you say “Someone alleges that Marcus cheated,” you're being more careful, acknowledging it's still just a claim. The word reminds us that accusations and truth aren't always the same thing.