allegedly

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English alleged

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-

Proto-Germanic *līkąder.

Proto-Germanic *-līkaz

Proto-Germanic *-ê

Proto-Germanic *-līkê

Old English -līċe

Middle English -ly

English -ly

English allegedly

From alleged + -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈlɛdʒ.ɪd.li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

allegedly (not comparable)

1. According to someone's allegation.

   Near-synonyms: reportedly, reputedly, putatively, purportedly, putatively, rumoredly, supposedly, ostensibly, possibly, probably, likely, plausibly

   The suspect was allegedly involved in the robbery, but his alibi placed him in another state at the time.

   • 2025 March 27, Nicholas McEntyre, “Texas menace accused of ramming mini 4-wheeler into parked Teslas in chaotic spree”, in New York Post‎^[1]:

     An ATV-riding Texan was a massive problem to Tesla owners when he allegedly rammed his 4-wheeler into multiple cars during an unprovoked hit-and-run spree on Tuesday.

2. According to someone's conspicuous impressions (which could subsequently be alleged).

   The game is allegedly exciting.

   • 2008 November 13, Jason Whitlock, “The 10 best and 10 worst NFL coaches”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[2]:

     Philip Rivers is allegedly having the best season of any quarterback in the league.

   • 2009 February 20, “The Closer”, in New York Daily News‎^[3], archived from the original on 22 February 2009:

     ...her onscreen tears are allegedly real.

   • 2010 November 10, Pratish Mistry, “Why Julius Malema is important to the ANC”, in NewsTime:

     No doubt you’re tired of reading about his colourful escapades – about his glamorous home, his allegedly dodgy tenderpreneur deals, his gushing praise of malevolent dictators, or his soundly articulated international economic policy.

Usage notes

• This term is used in the media in order to avoid litigation when the facts are not entirely certain, or when referring to evidence in an ongoing trial.

Derived terms

• allegededly (sic)

Translations

according to someone's allegation

• Belarusian: нібы́та (nibýta), ні́бы (níby), нібы́ (nibý), бы́ццам (býccam)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: daa (bcl)

• Catalan: presumptament, suposadament (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 據稱 / 据称 (zh) (jùchēng)

• Czech: údajně (cs), prý (cs), prej (cs) (dialectal (Bohemia))
• Danish: angivelig (da)
• Dutch: vermoedelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: laŭdire
• Finnish: (sentence usually constructed otherwise) väitetään, että... (it is alleged that...); väitetysti (fi) (anglicism)
• French: prétendument (fr)
• German: angeblich (de) (neutral), vermeintlich (de) (expressing doubt)
• Hebrew: לִכְאוֹרָה (he) (likh'orá)
• Hungarian: állítólag (hu), vélhetőleg (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: angivelig (no), visstnok, formentlig, påstått

• Occitan: presomptuosament, presomptivament
• Polish: rzekomo (pl), przypuszczalnie (pl), podobno (pl), ponoć (pl)
• Portuguese: supostamente (pt)
• Russian: я́кобы (ru) (jákoby), бу́дто бы (búdto by)
• Slovak: vraj (sk)
• Spanish: supuestamente (es), dizque (es), presuntamente, pretendidamente, alegadamente
• Swedish: försäkrat (sv), påstått (sv), åberopat (sv)
• Tagalog: daw (tl)
• Turkish: iddiaya göre, sözde (tr)
• Ukrainian: ні́бито (níbyto), ні́би (níby), немо́вби (nemóvby), немо́вбито (nemóvbyto)