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allegiance Definition

al·le·giance (ə lē′jəns)

noun

  1. the duty that was owed by a vassal to his feudal lord
  2. the obligation of support and loyalty to one's ruler, government, or country
  3. loyalty or devotion, as to a cause, person, etc.

Etymology: ME alligeaunce, altered (after allegeaunce, a formal declaration < aleggen, allege) < OFr ligeance < lige, liege (see liege); sense affected by assoc. with L ligare, to bind

Related Forms:

  • allegiant al·le′·giant (-jənt) adjective, noun
allegiance Synonyms

allegiance

n.

loyalty, fidelity, fealty, devotion; see loyalty. See syn. study atloyalty.

allegiance Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • people: Let us start with allegiance of the people involved.
  • majority: Here in loyal Ulster there should be no question where the allegiance of the vast majority of people lie.

Possessives

  • people: As this book will hopefully show, motor sport develops fast and people's allegiance to Oulton Park sticks.

Converse of object

  • swear: Anyone failing to swear allegiance would suffer the full penalty of the law.
  • owe: Some of these owed a very shaky allegiance to the new republic.
  • profess: The decline in the number of people professing allegiance to Christianity is alarming.
  • pledge: As part of the induction he was baptized with wine and took some solemn oaths pledging allegiance to the Clan Chief.
  • switch: Have to say the first guy who scored against us was pretty hot too - nearly switched allegiance mid way!
  • declare: The province's security forces and the 10th army division deployed in Basra have declared allegiance to Maliki.

Adjective modifier

  • tribal: We wanted to get away from basing the building on our tribal allegiances.
  • political: Swedish papers, I was told, have to declare their political allegiance.
  • religious: Property qualifications rather than political or religious allegiance carried weight.
  • ultimate: His commitment to both camps, however, makes the question of his ultimate allegiance a difficult one.
  • blind: This is exactly what occurred in the blind allegiance to the Newtonian paradigm.
  • true: This really highlights his true allegiance - he is loyal to those that are directly under his command and that is it.

Noun used with modifier

  • pledge: A person like me can never pledge allegiance to a person like him.. .
  • party: People allow their views to be swayed by their party allegiance.
  • class: It is essential to recognize that, in such cases, there is likely to be a degree of ambivalence about their class allegiances.
  • switch: Had disgruntled Labor supporters stayed at home rather than switch allegiances?
  • community: However, some people find such friendships to be problematic, rather in the way that community allegiances may be.
allegiance Quotes

The British Empire has advanced to a new conception of autonomyand freedom, to the idea of a system of British nations, each freely ordering its own individual life, but bound together in unity byallegiance to one Crown, and co-operating in all that concerns the common weal.

—GeorgeVI

It comes as a great shock around the age of five, six or seven to discover that the flag to which you have pledged yourallegiance, along with everybodyelse, has not pledged its allegiance to you. It comes as a shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians and, although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.

—Baldwin,James Arthur