Alligations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of declaring or asserting something as true without proof ; a formal statement or claim made as part of an argument ; a proposition presented in legal or rhetorical contexts as a point to be proved or disproved
2. A statement or contention put forward without immediate evidence ; an assertion or claim included within a debate or legal proceeding ; an unproven declaration offered for consideration
3. Presenting a claim or assertion lacking supporting evidence ; stating a position or point within an argument or judicial matter ; making a pronouncement which awaits substantiation

Etymology: "Alligations" is the plural of "alligation," a noun that exists mainly because of a spelling slip. The intended word is "allegation," an accusation or claim made without proof. The "alligation" form is an errant spelling of that word, so readers meeting it are usually looking at a misspelling rather than a separate term. The forms that sit behind it do have a real history. They trace to Latin "alligatio," meaning "tying" or "binding," formed from "alligare," "to bind." That verb combines "ad," "to," with "ligare," "to bind," so the underlying idea is of fastening something to something else. "Allegation" descends from the same Latin family, but its meaning moved from physical binding toward the sense of a statement put forward as true.