| / English Dictionary |
ALLIANCE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of forming an alliance or confederation
Synonyms:
alliance; confederation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("alliance" is a kind of...):
group action (action taken by a group of people)
Derivation:
ally (become an ally or associate, as by a treaty or marriage)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A formal agreement establishing an association or alliance between nations or other groups to achieve a particular aim
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("alliance" is a kind of...):
accord; pact; treaty (a written agreement between two states or sovereigns)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An organization of people (or countries) involved in a pact or treaty
Synonyms:
alignment; alinement; alliance; coalition
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("alliance" is a kind of...):
organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)
Meronyms (members of "alliance"):
ally (a friendly nation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alliance"):
combination (an alliance of people or corporations or countries for a special purpose (formerly to achieve some antisocial end but now for general political or economic purposes))
allies (an alliance of nations joining together to fight a common enemy)
axis; bloc (a group of countries in special alliance)
Allies (in World War I the alliance of Great Britain and France and Russia and all the other nations that became allied with them in opposing the Central Powers)
Central Powers (in World War I the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary and other nations allied with them in opposing the Allies)
Allies (the alliance of nations that fought the Axis in World War II and which (with subsequent additions) signed the charter of the United Nations in 1945)
Axis (in World War II the alliance of Germany and Italy in 1936 which later included Japan and other nations)
entente; entente cordiale (an informal alliance between countries)
popular front (a leftist coalition organized against a common opponent)
global organization; international organisation; international organization; world organisation; world organization (an international alliance involving many different countries)
Northern Alliance; United Front (a multiethnic alliance in Afghanistan who practice a moderate form of Islam and are united in their opposition to the Taliban)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest
Example:
their friendship constitutes a powerful bond between them
Synonyms:
alliance; bond
Classified under:
Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas
Hypernyms ("alliance" is a kind of...):
connectedness; connection; connexion (a relation between things or events (as in the case of one causing the other or sharing features with it))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alliance"):
silver cord (the emotional bond between a mother and her offspring)
Sense 5
Meaning:
The state of being allied or confederated
Synonyms:
alliance; confederation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("alliance" is a kind of...):
coalition; fusion (the state of being combined into one body)
Context examples:
Thenceforward that was our one safety, and every strained situation was relieved by our introducing the name of the Scotch zoologist, when both our Professors would form a temporary alliance and friendship in their detestation and abuse of this common rival.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
That the general should come forward to solicit the alliance, or that he should even very heartily approve it, they were not refined enough to make any parading stipulation; but the decent appearance of consent must be yielded, and that once obtained—and their own hearts made them trust that it could not be very long denied—their willing approbation was instantly to follow.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.’
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
After that, I observed that Mr. Gulpidge and Mr. Henry Spiker, who had hitherto been very distant, entered into a defensive alliance against us, the common enemy, and exchanged a mysterious dialogue across the table for our defeat and overthrow.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He said it was a very old name in that neighbourhood; that the ancestors of the house were wealthy; that all Morton had once belonged to them; that even now he considered the representative of that house might, if he liked, make an alliance with the best.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
While not all the newly created launches and alliances with others will be successful, a large majority of yours will be, far more than usual.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Anne Elliot, so young; known to so few, to be snatched off by a stranger without alliance or fortune; or rather sunk by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependence!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
The rich brother-in-law near Bristol was the pride of the alliance, and his place and his carriages were the pride of him.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Advantageous as would be the alliance, and long standing and public as was the engagement, her happiness must not be sacrificed to it.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
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