Alleging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. putting forward a statement or accusation as a fact without having requisite proof to substantiate it
2. making an assertion or claim about a person or event which is not yet verified through evidence or support
3. Claiming something to be true despite lacking confirmation or solid proof

Etymology: The verb "allege" has an odd double ancestry, and the two strands point in opposite directions. One line runs from Latin "allēgāre", meaning "send on a mission" or "adduce", through Old French "alleguer", which carried the sense of citing or appealing to something as evidence. The other runs from Latin "alleviāre", "lighten", through Old French "alegier", meaning to relieve or ease a burden. The English word took its shape from the Middle English "aleggen", and it is unclear which French source supplied it, so the two strands were never fully separated in the record. The sense we use now, asserting something without proof, grew out of the earlier idea of citing a reason or claim in one's own defence. A person who alleged something was putting it forward as a plea, and the proof was left for others to weigh. That gap between assertion and demonstration is what the modern meaning preserves.

Synonyms: claiming, asserting, contending, arguing

Antonyms: denying, disproving