Adjacent Words

Ally definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ALLY', v.t. [L. ligo.]
1. To unite, or form a relation, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league or confederacy.
2. To form a relation by similitude, resemblance or friendship. Note. This word is more generally used in the passive form, as families are allied by blood; or reciprocally, as princes ally themselves to powerful states.
ALLY' n.
1. A prince or state united by treaty or league; a confederate.
The allies of Rome were slaves.
2. One related by marriage or other tie; but seldom applied to individuals, except to princes in their public capacity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a friendly nation
2: an associate who provides cooperation or assistance; "he's a good ally in fight" [syn: ally, friend] [ant: enemy, foe] v
1: become an ally or associate, as by a treaty or marriage; "He allied himself with the Communists"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (allied; allying) Etymology: Middle English allien, from Anglo-French alier, from Latin alligare to bind to, from ad- + ligare to bind — more at ligature Date: 14th century transitive verb to unite or form a connection or relation between ; associate <allied himself with a wealthy family by marriage> intransitive verb to form or enter into an alliance <two factions allying with each other> II. noun (plural allies) Date: 1598 1. a sovereign or state associated with another by treaty or league 2. a plant or animal linked to another by genetic or taxonomic proximity 3. one that is associated with another as a helper ; auxiliary

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a State formally cooperating or united with another for a special purpose, esp. by a treaty. 2 a person or organization that cooperates with or helps another. --v.tr. also (-ies, -ied) (often foll. by with) combine or unite in alliance. Etymology: ME f. OF al(e)ier f. L alligare bind: cf. ALLOY 2. n. (also alley) (pl. -ies or -eys) a choice playing-marble made of marble, alabaster, or glass. Etymology: perh. dimin. of ALABASTER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ally Al"ly, n. See Alley, a marble or taw.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ally Al*ly", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Allied; p. pr. & vb. n. Allying.] [OE. alien, OF. alier, F. alier, fr. L. alligare to bind to; ad + ligare to bind. Cf. Alligate, Alloy, Allay, Ligament.] 1. To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy; -- often followed by to or with. O chief! in blood, and now in arms allied. --Pope. 2. To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love. These three did love each other dearly well, And with so firm affection were allied. --Spenser. The virtue nearest to our vice allied. --Pope. Note: Ally is generally used in the passive form or reflexively.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ally Al*ly", n.; pl. Allies. [See Ally, v.] 1. A relative; a kinsman. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. One united to another by treaty or league; -- usually applied to sovereigns or states; a confederate. The English soldiers and their French allies. --Macaulay. 3. Anything associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary. Science, instead of being the enemy of religion, becomes its ally. --Buckle. 4. Anything akin to another by structure, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(allied) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A country's ally is another country that has an agreement to support it, especially in war. Washington would not take such a step without its allies' approval... The United States is a close ally of South Korea. ? adversary N-COUNT: with supp 2. The Allies were the armed forces that fought against Germany and Japan in the Second World War. N-PLURAL: the N 3. If you describe someone as your ally, you mean that they help and support you, especially when other people are opposing you. He is a close ally of the Prime Minister... = supporter, friend ? enemy N-COUNT: with supp 4. If you ally yourself with someone or something, you give your support to them. He will have no choice but to ally himself with the new movement. VERB: V pron-refl with n 5. see also allied

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Unite, join, league, confederate, connect, combine, marry, connect by marriage, bring into affinity. 2. Make similar, make analogous, bring into resemblance, raise into close relationship. II. n. 1. Confederate, coadjutor, co-operator, assistant, helper, aider, auxiliary, associate, friend, colleague, partner. 2. Abettor, accomplice. See accessary.

Moby Thesaurus

accessory, accomplice, act in concert, act together, adjunct, affiliate, alter ego, amalgamate, analogon, analogue, apply, archduchy, archdukedom, associate, band, band together, be in cahoots, be in league, bedfellow, bind, body politic, bracket, brother, brother-in-arms, buffer state, bunch, bunch up, cabal, captive nation, cement a union, centralize, chieftaincy, chieftainry, city-state, close copy, close match, club, club together, coact, coadjutor, coalesce, cognate, cohort, collaborate, collaborator, colleague, collude, colony, combine, come together, commonweal, commonwealth, companion, compatriot, compeer, complement, comrade, concert, concord, concur, confederate, confrere, congenator, congener, connect, consociate, consolidate, consort, conspire, cooperate, coordinate, correlate, correlative, correspondent, counterpart, country, county, couple, crony, do business with, domain, dominion, draw a parallel, duchy, dukedom, earldom, empery, empire, equate, equivalent, federalize, federate, fellow, fellow member, free city, friend, fuse, gang, gang up, get heads together, get together, go in partners, go in partnership, go partners, grand duchy, hang together, harmonize, hold together, hook up, hook up with, identify, image, interrelate, join, join forces, join fortunes with, join in, join together, join up, join up with, join with, keep together, kindred spirit, kingdom, land, league, league together, like, likeness, link, make common cause, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, marry, mate, merge, nation, nationality, near duplicate, obverse, organize, pair, pair off, parallel, parallelize, partner, pendant, picture, play ball, polis, polity, possession, power, principality, principate, protectorate, province, pull together, puppet government, puppet regime, put heads together, realm, reciprocal, reciprocate, relate, relativize, republic, satellite, second self, seneschalty, settlement, side, similitude, simulacrum, sister, soul mate, sovereign nation, stand together, stand up with, state, such, suchlike, sultanate, superpower, tally, team up, team up with, team with, territory, the like of, the likes of, throw in together, throw in with, tie, tie in, tie in with, tie up, tie up with, toparchia, toparchy, twin, unionize, unite, unite efforts, unite with, wed, work together