ally
Plural: allies
Noun
- a friendly nation
- an associate who provides cooperation or assistance
- "he's a good ally in fight"
- A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
- A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
- A person who, or organization which, supports a demographic group subject to discrimination and/or misrepresentation but is not a member of the group; specifically (LGBTQ), a person who is not a member of the LGBT+ community but is supportive of it.
- A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate.
- Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.
- Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.
- An organism which is related to another organism through common evolutionary origin; specifically, a species which is closely related to another species, usually within the same family.
- A person, group, concept, etc., which is associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary; a supporter.
- A kinsman or kinswoman; a relative.
- One's relatives; kin, kindred, relations; also, relationship through descent or marriage; kinship.
- People, groups, states, etc., which are associated or united with each other for a common purpose; confederates; also, the state of being allied; alliance, confederation.
- Alternative spelling of alley (“a glass marble or taw”).
Verb
Verb Forms: allied, allying, allies
- To unite or form a cooperative relationship.
- become an ally or associate, as by a treaty or marriage
- To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
- Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature.
- To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else.
- Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim.
Examples
- He had to ally his ’Q’ with a ’U’ to make it playable.
- I’m glad you want to be a better ally to the disabled.
- The order of Gruiformes includes cranes and their allies.
- The two countries were allies in World War I.
Origin / 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”)). Doublet of allay, alligate, alloy, and ligament.
Synonyms
friend, make common cause
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 7
ally: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordally: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
ally: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary