Jump To:

• alliance
  alliance

  noun

  the act of allying or state of being allied.
• Alliance
  Alliance

  noun

  a city in NE Ohio.

alliance

¹ American  

[uh-lahy-uhns] / əˈlaɪ əns /

noun

alliances plural

1. the act of allying or state of being allied.

   Synonyms:

   affiliation, partnership, bloc, combination, coalition, association

2. a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes.

   Synonyms:

   compact, pact

3. a merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states, or organizations.

   an alliance between church and state.

4. the persons or entities so allied.

5. marriage or the relationship created by marriage between the families of the spouses.

6. correspondence in basic characteristics; affinity.

   the alliance between logic and metaphysics.

---

Alliance ² American  

[uh-lahy-uhns] / əˈlaɪ əns /

noun

1. a city in NE Ohio.

---

alliance ¹ British  

/ əˈlaɪəns /

noun

1. the act of allying or state of being allied; union; confederation

2. a formal agreement or pact, esp a military one, between two or more countries to achieve a particular aim

3. the countries involved in such an agreement

4. a union between families through marriage

5. affinity or correspondence in qualities or characteristics

6. botany a taxonomic category consisting of a group of related families; subclass

---

Alliance ² British  

/ əˈlaɪəns /

noun

1. 1. the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party acting or regarded as a political entity from 1981 to 1988

   2. ( as modifier )

      an Alliance candidate

---

Usage

What is an alliance? An alliance is the act or state of being in a mutually beneficial relationship to work toward a common goal, as in The United States’ longest alliance is with France. Often, alliance refers to a formal agreement between nations that promise to assist each other in war, as in Germany, Italy, and Japan agreed on an alliance during World War II. Alliance can also be used more generally to refer to the people or groups that come together in a common cause, as in The invading orcs were defeated by an alliance of men, elves, and dwarves. Alliance is similar to words such as confederation, union, and league, which also refer to beneficial partnerships. Alliance is used more generally than these words, however. Example: The kids at my school formed an alliance to stop the bully from harassing us. 

Synonym Usage

Alliance, confederation, league, union all mean the joining of states for mutual benefit or to permit the joint exercise of functions. An alliance may apply to any connection entered into for mutual benefit. League usually suggests closer combination or a more definite object or purpose. Confederation applies to a permanent combination for the exercise in common of certain governmental functions. Union implies an alliance so close and permanent that the separate states or parties become essentially one.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interalliance
  noun
• nonalliance
  noun
• prealliance
  noun
• realliance
  noun
• suballiance
  noun
• proalliance
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• alliances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of alliance

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aliance, from Old French; equivalent to ally + -ance

Explanation

Countries that have an alliance, or agreement, help each other out when in need. That means during times of war, for example, if two countries have an alliance, one will help the other by providing weapons and supplies. An alliance doesn't just have to be between two countries; you can see alliances formed on a playground, when kids start clustering in groups or dividing themselves into teams to play tag. An alliance is essentially a connection through which a common interest is shared. A marriage is an alliance between two people who decide to share their lives together.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

alliance Alliance alliances

The Hashed al-Shaabi alliance, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, was created in 2014 to fight jihadists before it was formally integrated into the armed forces.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

The revelations tested a fragile alliance of Black and Latino coalitions that organizers have sought to maintain.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

The alliance has genuinely soured in recent months.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

The alliance is part of a push by Kraft Heinz to breathe new life into its decades-old brands and revive sales after years of decline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

In the Treaty of Greenville, signed in 1795, the nations of the alliance ceded a great deal of their Ohio territory to the US.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Mazariegos is the L.A. co-director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, a statewide nonprofit that organizes lower-income Black and brown communities for progressive change.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Nvidia joined a tech coalition called the Open Secure AI Alliance to build an artificial-intelligence defense program.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

There are 63 million Americans caring for a family member, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, and they are often doing so at great personal and financial sacrifice.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

"Congress must act quickly to ensure humans remain able to say stop," said Brendan Steinhauser, head of the Alliance for Secure AI, "no matter how powerful these systems become."

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

The Northern Alliance, led by General Ahmed Shah Masood, a great warrior during the Soviet war, was made up of non-Pukhtun Farsi-speaking groups.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

Geography may offer an alternative route, but regional alliances can put that route at risk, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

The reshaping of alliances around the future European fighter is a key topic at Farnborough.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

“Together we will build creative experiences for our consumers across our destinations, platforms, and fan touchpoints,” Becca Vodnoy, Walt Disney Co. senior vice president of corporate alliances, said in the statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Researchers are trying to get closer to social structures, forms of exchange, boundaries between groups, the quality of alliances, ways of building a society.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

They find it harder to make alliances and betray you.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer