allegiance

[uh-lee-juhns]

noun

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.

Origin of allegiance

1350–1400; Middle English aliegiaunce, equivalent to a- probably a-⁵ + liege liege + -aunce -ance; compare Middle French ligeance

Related formsnon·al·le·giance, nouno·ver·al·le·giance, noun

Synonyms for allegiance

See loyalty.

Antonyms for allegiance

1. treason. 2. treachery.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for allegiances

fealty, faithfulness, homage, obedience, dedication, adherence, deference, fidelity, obligation, devotion, duty, constancy, piety, ardor, consecration, honor

Examples from the Web for allegiances

Contemporary Examples of allegiances

And it was impossible to know where their allegiances truly lay.
One Eye on Our Allies: The Overdue Talk About Afghan Insider Attacks
Brandon Caro
October 9, 2012
Even before the podiums are occupied, we have pledged our allegiances.
The Presidential Debate as Seen by a Conservative Husband and a Liberal Wife
Susannah Breslin
October 4, 2012
Their allegiances are fleeting and their numbers are growing.
Independents Are Growing in Number and Drifting Away From Obama
Linda Killian
December 9, 2011
Finally, Faris gets fed up and dumps Dave, proving that her allegiances lie with Eric.
The Best 'Entourage' Cameos
Marlow Stern
July 24, 2011
My allegiances shifted precisely on the first Monday after Labor Day in 1971, when I walked into St. John's for the first time.
Football, Hold the Stuffing
Charles P. Pierce
November 26, 2008

Historical Examples of allegiances

Two allegiances, two promises … and no one could tell which she would choose.
The Education of Eric Lane
Stephen McKenna
Mackenzie seems to be in two minds, pulled this way and that in response to two guiding notions and allegiances.
Prefaces to Four Seventeenth-Century Romances
Roger Boyle
They are based on allegiances and commitments contradicted by the pragmatics of today's world.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai 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 Mankind
Herbert 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 England
George Santayana

British Dictionary definitions for allegiances

allegiance

noun

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)

Word Origin for allegiance

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

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.