alleged
American Heritage Dictionary:
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al·leged
(ə-lĕjd', ə-lĕj'ĭd) 
adj.
Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.
allegedly al·leg'ed·ly (ə-lĕj'ĭd-lē) adv.
adj.
Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.
allegedly al·leg'ed·ly (ə-lĕj'ĭd-lē) adv.
USAGE NOTE An alleged burglar is someone who has been accused of being a burglar but against whom no charges have been proved. An alleged incident is an event that is said to have taken place but has not yet been verified. In their zeal to protect the rights of the accused, newspapers and law enforcement officials sometimes misuse alleged. Someone arrested for murder may be only an alleged murderer, for example, but is a real, not an alleged, suspect in that his or her status as a suspect is not in doubt. Similarly, if the money from a safe is known to have been stolen and not merely mislaid, then we may safely speak of a theft without having to qualify our description with alleged.
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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alleged, allegedly
1. Alleged is pronounced as two syllables, and allegedly as four.
2. Their role is to distinguish an unproven accusation (i.e., an allegation) from a proven fact or event (the victim of the alleged fraud / their alleged attackers). The disclaiming qualification they provide is not needed in sentences in which the context already makes the situation clear:
An Iraqi prisoner has described how he was [allegedly] subjected to vicious beatings—Independent, 2004.The disclaimer would be needed were we to make the sentence a direct statement not attributed to the victim: An Iraqi prisoner was allegedly subjected to vicious beatings.
| allay, all-around, all told | |
| allegory, fable, parable, allergy, alley |
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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alleged
adj
Definition: asserted, often doubtful
Antonyms: certain, definite, sure
Word Tutor:
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allegedly
IN BRIEF: According to what has been asserted.
The advertising industry is one of our most basic forms of communication and, allegedly, of information.
— Marvin E. Frankel
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Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'alleged'
- Judges, Lawyers, and Others in the Court System - alleged: one accused of crime before proven guilty
Translations:
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Alleged
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - påstået, angivelig
Nederlands (Dutch)
vermeend, zogenaamd
Français (French)
adj. - présumé, prétendu
Deutsch (German)
adj. - vermeintlich, angeblich
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - δήθεν, θεωρούμενος (ως), φερόμενος (ως)
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - alegado, suposto
Русский (Russian)
утверждаемый, мнимый
Español (Spanish)
adj. - presunto, supuesto
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - påstådd, föregiven
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
声称的, 所谓的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 聲稱的, 所謂的
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 申し立てられた, いわゆる
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - שטוענים לגביו, שהוא כביכול, החשוד, כאילו
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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