allegiance

[ uh-lee-juhns ]

/ əˈli dʒəns /

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.

Nearby words

Origin of allegiance

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

SYNONYMS FOR allegiance

See loyalty.

ANTONYMS FOR allegiance

1. treason. 2. treachery.

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Their allegiances are fleeting and their numbers are growing.
Independents Are Growing in Number and Drifting Away From Obama|Linda Killian|December 9, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Finally, Faris gets fed up and dumps Dave, proving that her allegiances lie with Eric.
The Best 'Entourage' Cameos|Marlow Stern|July 24, 2011|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
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
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
Two allegiances, two promises … and no one could tell which she would choose.
The Education of Eric Lane|Stephen McKenna
They are based on allegiances and commitments contradicted by the pragmatics of today's world.
The Civilization of Illiteracy|Mihai Nadin
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

/ (əˈliːdʒəns) /

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.

allegiance

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of allegiance

Examples from the Web for allegiances

allegiance

noun

Word Origin for allegiance

allegiance