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the loyalty of a citizen to his or her government or of a subject to his or her sovereign.
loyalty or devotion to some person, group, cause, or the like.
contemporary examples

their allegiances are fleeting and their numbers are growing.
independents are growing in number and drifting away from obama linda killian december 8, 2011

even before the podiums are occupied, we have pledged our allegiances.
the presidential debate as seen by a conservative husband and a liberal wife susannah breslin october 3, 2012

my allegiances shifted precisely on the first monday after labor day in 1971, when i walked into st. john’s for the first time.
football, hold the stuffing charles p. pierce november 25, 2008

finally, faris gets fed up and dumps dave, proving that her allegiances lie with eric.
the best ‘entourage’ cameos marlow stern july 23, 2011

and it was impossible to know where their allegiances truly lay.
one eye on our allies: the overdue talk about afghan insider attacks brandon caro october 8, 2012

historical examples

nor were there two allegiances due, one to the community here, another to that of great britain.
abridgment of the debates of congress, from 1789 to 1856, vol. i (of 16) thomas hart benton

two allegiances, two promises … and no one could tell which she would choose.
the education of eric lane stephen mckenna

the loyalties and allegiances to-day are at best provisional loyalties and allegiances.
the outline of history: being a plain history of life and mankind herbert george wells

they are based on allegiances and commitments contradicted by the pragmatics of today’s world.
the civilization of illiteracy mihai nadin

mackenzie seems to be in two minds, pulled this way and that in response to two guiding notions and allegiances.
prefaces to four seventeenth-century romances roger boyle

noun
loyalty, as of a subject to his sovereign or of a citizen to his country
(in feudal society) the obligations of a v-ssal to his liege lord see also fealty, homage (sense 2)
n.

late 14c., from anglo-french legaunce “loyalty of a liege-man to his lord,” from old french legeance, from liege (see liege); erroneously -ssociated with latin ligare “to bind;” corrupted in spelling by confusion with the now-obsolete legal term allegeance “alleviation.” general figurative sense of “recognition of claims to respect or duty” is attested from 1732.