# alliance

Pronunciation: say "uh-LY-uhns" /əˈlaɪ.əns/

## Noun

1. A union of interests between families, states, or parties, especially families joined by marriage and states bound by treaty or league.
   - Simple: A close link between groups, families, or countries that agree to help each other.
   - _The marriage sealed an alliance between two powerful trading families._
   - _Three nations entered into a military alliance against the empire._
2. The condition of being allied or bound together with another in shared interest.
   - Simple: The condition of being joined together with others as partners.
   - _In alliance with neighboring kingdoms, the city enjoyed decades of security._
   - _Their long alliance meant neither side feared betrayal._
3. The act of forming a union or joining two or more parties together.
   - Simple: The act of joining together with others to form a partnership.
   - _The alliance of the rival houses ended generations of conflict._
   - _A sudden alliance between the two unions changed the negotiations._
4. The persons or parties bound together as allies, taken as a single body.
   - Simple: The people or groups that have joined together as partners.
   - _The alliance gathered its leaders to plan a joint defense._
   - _The alliance stood firm despite pressure from outside powers._
5. A connection resembling that between families or states, founded on shared qualities or natural affinity.
   - Simple: A close link between things that are alike in some way.
   - _Critics saw a deep alliance between the painter's style and the poet's verse._
   - _There is a curious alliance between cold weather and clear thinking._

## Noun

6. A marriage, especially considered as a formal union between two families. *(dated, India)*
   - Simple: A marriage, seen as a union that joins two families.
   - _The alliance between the two families was celebrated for a week._
   - _His daughter's alliance with the merchant's son secured the estate._
7. A taxonomic grouping of several related orders of organisms, equivalent to a cohort in older classification. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A grouping of several related orders of living things, used in older science books.
   - _Nineteenth-century naturalists assigned the ferns to a single alliance._
   - _The alliance gathered several orders thought to share a common form._

## Verb

8. To join or unite two parties by a formal bond or league. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To join people or groups together through a formal agreement.
   - _The treaty would alliance the two crowns against their common foe._
   - _He labored to alliance the rival factions before war broke out._

## Origin

From Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance (modern French alliance), equivalent to ally plus the suffix -ance.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/alliance (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).