ally
Forms
- present (v1)
- ally
- past (v2)
- allied
- past participle (v3)
- allied
- present participle
- allying
- 3rd person singular
- allies
- Plural
- allies
Definitions
1.To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
- She died; and her place was supplied by a German princess nearly allied to the Imperial House.
2.Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature.
3.To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else.
4.Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim.
- Whatever injuries […] the Athenians have done me I forgive. […] If they will ally with me, rebuild the temples I have burnt.
1.A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
- I’m glad you want to be a better ally to the disabled.
- He became the ally of a boy named Aubrey Mills and founded with him a gang of adventurers in the avenue.
2.A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate.
- The two countries were allies in World War I.
- During some days indeed there was great reason to fear that the enemy would be entertained with a bloody fight between the English soldiers and their French allies.
- Even before she begs Jon to keep his identity a secret, she reeks of desperation; in order to gain an ally that isn’t already in her entourage, she sets Gendry Baratheon né Rivers up in Storm’s End.
3.Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.
- The order of Gruiformes includes cranes and their allies.
- Procyonids (raccoons and their allies), a group of North American origin, are first recorded in South America in a level immediately below a unit dated at 6.0 million years.
4.A person, group, concept, etc., which is associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary; a supporter.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2479
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English allien, alien (“to form an alliance, associate, join; to become an ally; to introduce (someone) as an ally; to marry; to become related (to someone); to attack, engage in combat; to combine; (cooking) to combine ingredients, especially to bind them together”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman alier, allier, Middle French alier, allier [and other forms], and Old French alier (“to join together, unite; to alloy (metals); (cooking) to combine ingredients”) (modern French allier), from Latin alligāre, the present active infinitive of alligō, adligō (“to bind around, to, or up (something), bandage, fasten, fetter, tie; to hold fast; to detain, hinder”), from al-, ad- (intensifying prefix) + ligō (“to bind, tie; to bandage, wrap around; to unite”) (from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind, tie”)).