ALLEGIANCE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Allegiance

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/əlˈidʒəns/ Listen

noun

Allegiance n.

The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state.

Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science.

Synonyms: Loyalty; fealty. Allegiance, Loyalty. These words agree in expressing the general idea of fidelity and attachment to the "powers that be." Allegiance is an obligation to a ruling power. Loyalty is a feeling or sentiment towards such power. Allegiance may exist under any form of government, and, in a republic, we generally speak of allegiance to the government, to the state, etc. In well conducted monarchies, loyalty is a warm-hearted feeling of fidelity and obedience to the sovereign. It is personal in its nature; and hence we speak of the loyalty of a wife to her husband, not of her allegiance. In cases where we personify, loyalty is more commonly the word used; as, loyalty to the constitution; loyalty to the cause of virtue; loyalty to truth and religion, etc. "Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me!" "So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found,... Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal."

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Etymology of 'Allegiance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Allegiance" Quotes from Famous Books

... ON SUBJECTS. Governments owe their subjects protection; subjects owe just governments allegiance and support. The obligations of both are reciprocal, and the benefits received by both are mutual, equal, ...

— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... cutting their garments, and—poorer relations. Controlled by thy will, they select their society; Thou art their instructor in manners and piety. And thus they obey the decrees of a power, To which, in a servile allegiance, they cower— A power that binds them in thraldom, and then Makes puppets of ...

— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 1, July, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... she muttered incoherently of incidents, connected with the life of a poverty-stricken adventuress? Was friendly fate flying danger signals by arranging and accentuating this vivid contrast, in order to recall his vagrant wits, to cement his wavering allegiance? ...

— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

... that even the very first step, that the initiation of the process, the becoming conscious of a conscience, partakes of the nature of an act. It is an act, in and by which we take upon ourselves an allegiance, and consequently the obligation of fealty; and this fealty or fidelity implying the power of being unfaithful, it is the first and fundamental sense of Faith. It is likewise the commencement of experience, ...

— Coleridge's Literary Remains, Volume 4. • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... native never troubles himself much about niceties of loyalty, and as the sway of the Congo Free State (or "Buli Matdi," as it is named by the woolly aboriginal), had been brutally tyrannous, the change of allegiance had worried them little. Besides, they had been in contact with Captain Kettle before, and knew him to be that admirable thing, a Man, and worthy of being served; while Clay, whom they also knew, amused them with his banjo, and held powerful ju-ju in the ...

— A Master of Fortune • Cutcliffe Hyne

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