allegiance
[uh-lee-juh ns]
- the loyalty of a citizen to his or her government or of a subject to his or her sovereign.
- loyalty or devotion to some person, group, cause, or the like.
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Origin of allegiance
Synonyms
See more synonyms for allegiance on Thesaurus.comSee loyalty.
Antonyms
1. treason. 2. treachery.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for allegiances
Contemporary Examples
And it was impossible to know where their allegiances truly lay.
Even before the podiums are occupied, we have pledged our allegiances.
The Presidential Debate as Seen by a Conservative Husband and a Liberal WifeSusannah Breslin
October 4, 2012
Their allegiances are fleeting and their numbers are growing.
Finally, Faris gets fed up and dumps Dave, proving that her allegiances lie with Eric.
My allegiances shifted precisely on the first Monday after Labor Day in 1971, when I walked into St. John's for the first time.
Historical Examples
Two allegiances, two promises … and no one could tell which she would choose.
The Education of Eric LaneStephen McKenna
Mackenzie seems to be in two minds, pulled this way and that in response to two guiding notions and allegiances.
They are based on allegiances and commitments contradicted by the pragmatics of today's world.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
The loyalties and allegiances to-day are at best provisional loyalties and allegiances.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and MankindHerbert George Wells
It is a mass of dumb instincts and allegiances, the love of a certain quality of life, to be maintained manfully.
Soliloquies in EnglandGeorge Santayana
allegiance
- loyalty, as of a subject to his sovereign or of a citizen to his country
- (in feudal society) the obligations of a vassal to his liege lordSee also fealty, homage (def. 2)
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French ligeance, from lige liege
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for allegiances
allegiance
n.
late 14c., from Anglo-French legaunce "loyalty of a liege-man to his lord," from Old French legeance, from liege (see liege); erroneously associated with Latin ligare "to bind;" corrupted in spelling by confusion with the now-obsolete legal term allegeance "alleviation." General figurative sense of "recognition of claims to respect or duty" is attested from 1732.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper