# alliance
## English
### Alternative forms

* alliaunce (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance (French alliance). Equivalent to ally +‎ -ance. Compare with Doric Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”).

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /əˈlaɪ.əns/
* Rhymes: -aɪəns
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

alliance (countable and uncountable, plural alliances)
* (uncountable) The state of being allied.
    matrimonial alliances
    an alliance between church and state, or between two countries
* (countable) The act of allying or uniting.
* (countable) A union or connection of interests between families, states, parties, etc., especially between families by marriage and states by compact, treaty, or league.
* (countable) Any union resembling that of families or states; union by relationship in qualities; affinity.
** 1624, William Udall, The Historie of the Life and Death of Mary Stuart Queene of Scotland:And as for kindred , there is no Alliance neerer vnto any one, than their Countrey , that is to be vnto vs another God, and our prime and deareſt Parent.
** 1871, Charles John Smith, Synonyms Discriminated:the alliance of the principles of the world with those of the gospel
** 1860, Henry Longueville Mansel, Prolegomena Logica: An Inquiry Into the Psychological Character of Logical Processes:the alliance […] between logic and metaphysics
* (with the definite article) The persons or parties allied.
* (India) Marriage.

#### Synonyms

* (union by relationship in qualities): connection, affinity, union, allyship
* (act of allying): union
* (persons or parties allied): coalition, league, confederation, team (informal)

#### Derived terms

* airline alliance
* alliancer
* antialliance
* counteralliance
* gay-straight alliance
* Grand Alliance
* misalliance
* offensive and defensive alliance
* quasi-alliance
* realliance
* red-green alliance
* red-green-brown alliance
* suballiance
* unholy alliance

#### Related terms

* ally

#### Translations
### Verb

alliance (third-person singular simple present alliances, present participle alliancing, simple past and past participle allianced)
* (obsolete) To connect or unite by alliance; to ally.

### Further reading

* “alliance”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* “alliance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* ancillae, canaille

## Danish
### Noun

alliance c (singular definite alliancen, plural indefinite alliancer)
* an alliance

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “alliance” in Den Danske Ordbog

## French
### Etymology

From allier +‎ -ance.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.ljɑ̃s/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

### Noun

alliance f (plural alliances)
* alliance, union
* wedding ring

#### Descendants

* → Polish: alians
* → Portuguese: aliança
* → Russian: алья́нс (alʹjáns), алья́нсъ (alʹjáns) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
** → Armenian: ալյանս (alyans)
** → Kazakh: альянс (aläns)
* → Turkish: alyans

### Further reading

* “alliance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* canaille

## Middle English
### Noun

alliance
* Alternative form of alliaunce