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ally

Pronunciation: /ˈæl.aɪ/

The English word “ally” has 13 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
  2. Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature.
  3. To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else.
  4. Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim.

noun

  1. A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend.
  2. 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.
  3. A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate.
  4. Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.
  5. 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.
  6. A person, group, concept, etc., which is associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary; a supporter.
  7. A kinsman or kinswoman; a relative.
  8. One's relatives; kin, kindred, relations; also, relationship through descent or marriage; kinship.
  9. 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.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.