Allosaurus (/ˌæləˈsɔːrəs/ AL-o-SAWR-us) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian ages). The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by Othniel C. Marsh. The name "Allosaurus" means "different lizard", alluding to its lightweight vertebrae, which Marsh believed were unique. The genus has a very complicated taxonomy and includes at least three valid species, the best known of which is A. fragilis. The bulk of Allosaurus remains come from North America's Morrison Formation, with material also known from the Alcobaça, Bombarral, and Lourinhã formations in Portugal. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but a study of the abundant remains from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry returned the name "Allosaurus" to prominence. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles.

Allosaurus was a large bipedal predator for its time. Its skull was light, robust, and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. It averaged 8.5 meters (28 ft) in length for A. fragilis, with the largest specimens estimated as being 9.7 meters (32 ft) long. Relative to the large and powerful legs, its three-fingered hands were small and the body was balanced by a long, muscular tail. It is classified in the family Allosauridae. As the most abundant large predator of the Morrison Formation, Allosaurus was at the top of the food chain and probably preyed on large herbivorous dinosaurs such as ornithopods, stegosaurids, and sauropods. Scientists have debated whether Allosaurus had cooperative social behavior and hunted in packs or was a solitary predator that forms congregations, with evidence supporting either side.

Allosaurus was discovered during the Bone Wars, a feud between two American paleontologists, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, that led to a surge of fossil discoveries in the Western US. The first described fossil in the taxonomic history of Allosaurus was a bone obtained secondhand by Ferdinand V. Hayden in 1869. It came from Middle Park, near Granby, Colorado, probably from Morrison Formation rocks. The locals had identified such bones as "petrified horse hoofs". Hayden sent his specimen to Joseph Leidy, who identified it as half of a tail vertebra and tentatively assigned it to the European dinosaur genus Poekilopleuron as Poicilopleuron [sic] valens. He later decided it deserved its own genus, Antrodemus.

Allosaurus itself is based on YPM 1930, a small collection of fragmentary bones including parts of three vertebrae, a rib fragment, a tooth, a toe bone, and the shaft of the right humerus (upper arm bone). Marsh gave these remains the name Allosaurus fragilis in 1877. Allosaurus comes from the Greek words allos/αλλος, meaning "strange" or "different", and sauros/σαυρος, meaning "lizard" or "reptile". Marsh chose the name 'different lizard' because he believed that the vertebrae were different from those of other dinosaurs due to their lightweight construction. The species epithet fragilis is Latin for "fragile", again referring to the lightening features in the vertebrae. The bones were uncovered by two of Marsh's collectors, Benjamin Mudge and Samuel W. Williston, in the autumn of 1877 at Felch Quarry, in the Garden Park area of Colorado. Marsh and his collectors were unsatisfied with the quality of the collected fossils, so he ordered to close the quarry that same autumn. Yet, Marsh named two new dinosaurs from these remains: Diplodocus and Allosaurus. In 1883, Marsh hired the original discoverer of the quarry, Marshall P. Felch, to continue excavations. Felch's subsequent discoveries made the quarry one of the prime sites of the Morrison, and included the holotype specimens of Ceratosaurus nasicornis, Stegosaurus stenops, and a mostly complete Allosaurus skeleton (USNM 4734) that would later be selected as the neotype specimen of Allosaurus fragilis (the single specimen the species is based on, replacing the inadequate holotype).

In 1879, one of Cope's collectors, H. F. Hubbell, found a specimen in the Como Bluff area, but apparently did not mention its completeness and Cope never unpacked it. Upon unpacking it in 1903 (several years after Cope had died), it was found to be one of the most complete theropod specimens then known and the skeleton, now cataloged as AMNH 5753, was put on public view in 1908. This is the well-known mount poised over a partial Apatosaurus skeleton as if scavenging it, illustrated as such in a painting by Charles R. Knight. Although notable as the first free-standing mount of a theropod dinosaur and often illustrated and photographed, it has never been scientifically described.

The many names coined by Cope and Marsh complicated later research, with the situation further compounded by the terse descriptions they provided. Even at the time, authors such as Samuel W. Williston suggested that too many names had been coined. For example, Williston pointed out in 1901 that Marsh had never been able to adequately distinguish Allosaurus from Creosaurus. The most influential early attempt to sort out the situation was produced by Charles W. Gilmore in 1920. He came to the conclusion that the tail vertebra named Antrodemus by Leidy was indistinguishable from those of Allosaurus and that Antrodemus should be the preferred name because, as the older name, it had priority. Antrodemus became the accepted name for this familiar genus for over 50 years, until James H. Madsen published on the Cleveland-Lloyd specimens and concluded that Allosaurus should be used because Antrodemus was based on material with poor, if any, diagnostic features and locality information. For example, the geological formation that the single bone of Antrodemus came from is unknown.

In 1909, Earl Douglass from the Carnegie Museum discovered what should later become Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. Until 2022, Douglass and his team excavated over 700,000 lb (320,000 kg) of fossils of multiple dinosaur species from a single quarry, including several Allosaurus specimens. Among these finds is CM 11844, which was collected between 1913 and 1915 and comprises much of the skeleton and a fragmentary skull. Since 1938, this skeleton is on display at the Carnegie Museum. During the summer of 1924, the University of Utah uncovered DINO 2560, the best preserved Allosaurus specimen known at that time. The skull of this particularly large individual is on exhibit at the Dinosaur National Monument.

Although sporadic work at what became known as Utah's Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry had taken place as early as 1927 and the fossil site itself was described by William L. Stokes in 1945, major operations did not begin there until 1960. Madsen led a cooperative effort between 1960 and 1965 involving nearly 40 institutions, during which thousands of bones were recovered from the site. The quarry is notable for the predominance of Allosaurus remains: the quarry preserves a minimum of 73 individual dinosaurs and at least 46 of those are A. fragilis. The great quantity of well-preserved Allosaurus remains has allowed this genus to be known in great detail, making it among the best-known of all theropods. Skeletal remains from the quarry pertain to individuals of almost all ages and sizes, from less than 1 metre (3.3 feet) to 12 metres (39 feet) long. Because its fossils are common at both this quarry and others in the state, Allosaurus was designated as the state fossil of Utah in 1988.