allegiances definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (10)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun Loyalty or the obligation of loyalty, as to a nation, sovereign, or cause. See Synonyms at fidelity.
noun The obligations of a vassal to a lord.

Century Dictionary (5)

The tie or obligation of a subject or citizen to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to a king, government, or state. Every citizen owes allegiance to the government under which he is born. Natural or implied allegiance is that obligation which one owes to the nation of which he is a natural-born citizen or subject so long as he remains such, and it does not arise from any express promise. Express allegiance is that obligation which proceeds from an express promise or oath of fidelity. Local or temporary allegiance is due from an alien to the government or state under or in which he resides. In the United States the paramount allegiance of a citizen has been decided to be due to the general government, and not to the government of the particular State in which he is domiciled. Fealty is the bond that ties any man to another to whom he undertakes to be faithful; the bond is created by the undertaking and embodied in the oath. Homage is the form that binds the vassal to the lord, whose man he becomes, and of whom he holds the land for which he performs the ceremony on his knees and with his hands in his lord's hands. Allegiance is the duty which each man of the nation owes to the head of the nation, whether the man be a land-owner or landless, the vassal of a mesne lord or a lordless man; and allegiance is a legal duty to the king, the state, or the nation, whether it be embodied in an oath or not. But although thus distinct in origin, the three obligations had come in the middle ages to have, as regards the king, one effect. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 785. The conquest of the Danelaw was followed by the earliest instances of those oaths of allegiance which mark the substitution of a personal dependence on the king as lord for the older relation of the freeman to the king of his race. J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., v. It being a certain position in law, that allegiance and protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn. Jefferson, Autobiog., p. 12.
Hence Observance of obligation in general; fidelity to any person or thing; devotion. That I [Bolingbroke] did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, Fond shouts and salutations from their mouths, Even in the presence of the crowned king. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 2. Love, all the faith and all the allegiance then. Pope, Essay on Man, iii. 235.
Synonyms Allegiance, Loyalty, Fealty. Allegiance is the most formal and official of these words; it is a matter of principle, and applies especially to conduct; the oath of allegiance covers conduct only.

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Maybe she was right when she said the evil she wanted to abort wouldn't respect allegiances or philosophies. — The Silver Spike
It would seem, though, that Sinatra was serious about his new policy of not voting for any specific party because his allegiances were all over the political map in 1970: he was also supporting Democrat Edmund 'Jerry' Brown Jr for secretary of state of California, and he made it clear that he would support Nixon's opponent in the next presidential election. — Sinatra The Man Behind the Myth
Naturally enough, various issues scrambled allegiances - environmentalism was particularly hot and divisive - and the biggest wild card was the incipient break-up of the republics that had always chafed under Russian rule, all the more so because of the political coda imposed from Moscow. — The Sum of all Fears
Her only allegiances were to the companionate she shared THE STARS ARE ALSO FIRE 341 with Kaino and to this ship; she could and would leave either when she saw fit. — The Stars Are Also Fire
"What'd you have done next, if you'd succeeded?" — The Day of Their Return

allegiances

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