| 词组 | alleged |
| 释义 | alleged 1. As long ago as 1909 Ambrose Bierce was grousing about the use of allege in "the alleged murderer." "One can allege a murder, but not a murderer," says Bierce, basing his criticism on the meaning of the verb. But even then alleged was already leading an independent existence as an adjective, not necessarily to be trammeled by the meanings of the verb. The adjective is attested as early as the 16th century (as allegit) in Scots law; it perhaps came into mainstream English from this source, as the earliest attributive alleged (in this meaning) cited in the OED is from Sir Walter Scott's The Fair Maid of Perth (1828). None of the OED citations shows alleged applied to a person, as in "the alleged murderer." This particular use may have originated in American journalism—as Bierce's complaint suggests—but if it is an Americanism, none of the standard compendia of Americanisms have taken note of it. And since Bierce was apparently the first to notice the use, it probably arose around the turn of the century. Alleged has become a fixture of both print and broadcast journalism. Its use is approved by Reader's Digest 1983 (in preference to accused). Other commentators accept its inevitability but point out that it is sometimes carelessly applied; they warn against such examples as "the alleged suspect." • ... is seeking three quarters of a million dollars in alleged libel damages —"Morning Edition," National Public Radio, 22 May 1986 Occasional careless use occurs outside straight reporting, too: • ... alleging that the Company's underground electric service plans violated antitrust laws and claiming alleged treble damages of $4.5 million —Annual Report, Virginia Electric & Power Co., 1970 • This alleged account of sexual ambidexterity in high life —Times Literary Supp., 18 Dec. 1969 Our evidence is not sufficient to tell whether alleged is more often applied to persons or to actions and things in straight reporting. In contexts that are not reportorial we find it much more commonly applied to actions and things—even Ambrose Bierce would not have been displeased by most of our evidence. • ... the Watergate affair and other alleged malpractices by members of his campaign staff—Richard H. Rovere, New Yorker, 18 Nov. 1972 • ... a controversial segment dealing with alleged FBI undercover operations —Robert Lewis Shayon, Saturday Rev., 4 Dec. 1971 One result of the frequency of the word in journalistic use has been the development of a humorous application: • The only thing we could find was a bottle of alleged brandy —George S. Patton, Jr., War as I Knew It, 1947 • ... a round tin of alleged pork and egg, ground up together and worked to a consistency like the inside of a sick lobster's claw —A. J. Liebling, New Yorker, 19 May 1956 A spelling reminder may not come amiss: alleged is no longer spelled, as it once was, with a -dge-. 2. When alleged is used as an adjective (as in "the alleged arsonist"), it is often pronounced as three syllables, though not as often as the adjective learned meaning "erudite" (as in "learned counsel") is pronounced as two. In the case of learned, the extra syllable helps to underscore the sharp difference in meaning between learned in "learned counsel" and learned in "learned and innate behavior patterns." By comparison, the semantic split between the adjective alleged and past participial uses of the verb allege is not so sharp, and the extra syllable is not as consistently used. Both pronunciations are acceptable, however. |
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