Alaptalan

Alaptalan is a Hungarian adjective meaning without foundation or basis. It is used to describe claims, statements, or accusations that lack evidence, justification, or support.

Etymology: The word is formed from alap, meaning foundation or basis, with the suffix -talan, meaning without. The term is common in modern Hungarian across everyday and formal registers.

Usage: Alaptalan is frequently employed to label a proposition as groundless. It appears in journalism, politics, law, and public discourse when evidence is missing or arguments are unsubstantiated. Common collocations include alaptalan állítás (baseless claim), alaptalan vád (baseless accusation), and alaptalan következtetés (baseless conclusion).

Nuance: Alaptalan emphasizes an absence of substantive basis, contrasting with megalapozatlan, which can imply insufficient or improper grounding. In many contexts the distinction is subtle, and the two terms may be used interchangeably.

Examples: “A vád alaptalan, mert nincsenek bizonyítékok.” “Az állítás alaptalan, és alapos vizsgálat szükséges.”

See also: megalapozatlan, indokolatlan, kétségbe vonható érvelés.