DictionaryAI

re-ally

verb
Sayree-AL-y/ɹiːˈælaɪ/

Formsre-allies, re-allying, re-allied

2 meanings of re-ally

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To form an alliance again, bringing parties back into a partnership after an earlier one had ended.

    Diplomats worked for months to re-ally the rival factions behind a single leader.

    When the war resumed, the border states re-allied with their old protector.

    Similarrealign, reunite

    Note

    Here the renewed bond is a formal alliance, and the verb works in two directions. Used transitively, someone re-allies the parties. Used intransitively, the parties re-ally on their own, usually with a partner named after with: the states re-allied with their old protector. the broader "bring together" sense always needs an object, but this one can stand alone.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To bring people or groups back into union after they have been separated or divided.

    The new chairman set out to re-ally the company's feuding divisions.

    Shared grief re-allied the brothers who had not spoken in years.

    Similarreunite, reconcile, reunify

    Note

    Edmund Spenser already uses this verb in The Faerie Queene (1590), spelled re-allie: "Before they could new counsels re-allie." Built simply from re- and ally, it keeps its hyphen, which also separates it in print from the adverb really. Its endings follow ally: re-allies and re-allied turn the y to i, while re-allying keeps it.

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Origin

Formed from the prefix re- combined with the word "ally."