allegation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An assertion that someone has done something wrong, often without proof.
• noun Law An assertion that someone has engaged in an unlawful act.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Theact of alleging; affirmation; declaration: as, “erroneous allegations of fact,” Hallam.
• noun That which is alleged or asserted; that which is offered as a plea, an excuse, or a justification; an assertion.
• noun In law: The assertion or statement of a party to a suit or other proceeding, civil or criminal, which he undertakes to prove.
• noun The plaintiff's first pleading in a testamentary cause.
• noun In eccles. suits, any pleading subsequent to the first.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of alleging or positively asserting.
• noun That which is alleged, asserted, or declared; positive assertion; formal averment.
• noun (Law) A statement by a party of what he undertakes to prove, -- usually applied to each separate averment; the charge or matter undertaken to be proved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An assertion, especially an accusation, not necessarily based on facts.
• noun The act of alleging.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (law) a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court of law)
• noun statements affirming or denying certain matters of fact that you are prepared to prove