a country closely aligned with the Westaligna‧lign /əˈlaɪn/ ●○○ verb 
Church leaders have aligned themselves with the opposition. a country closely aligned with the West2[intransitive, transitive] to arrange things so that they form a line or are parallel to each other, or to be in a position that forms a line etc: The desks were neatly aligned in rows. Make sure that all the holes align.3[transitive] to organize or change something so that it has the right relationship to something elsebe aligned with something This policy is closely aligned with the goals of the organization.GRAMMAR Align is usually passive in this meaning.
WORD ORIGINalign
Origin:
1400-1500 French aligner, from ligne ‘line’VERB TABLE
align
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | align |
| he, she, it | aligns | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | aligned |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have aligned |
| he, she, it | has aligned | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had aligned |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will align |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have aligned |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am aligning |
| he, she, it | is aligning | |
| you, we, they | are aligning | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was aligning |
| you, we, they | were aligning | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been aligning |
| he, she, it | has been aligning | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been aligning |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be aligning |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been aligning |
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- All adjoining panels should be pressed evenly together ensuring all the panels are aligned squarely to each other.
- More than 50 seats were won by independents, many of whom are closely aligned with Mr Khatami's conservative foes.
- Overhead the beautiful stars flickered and aligned themselves into patterns.
- When I get the two magnets properly aligned on either side of the pad, see how they move in unison?
- When lava solidifies, its tiny ferrous particles align themselves, like magnetic needles, with the earth's magnetic field.
- You want to see how defenses align against your particular formation and see how they respond to a particular play.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY a country closely aligned with the West This policy is closely aligned with the goals of the organization.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
1[transitive] to publicly support a political group, country, or person that you agree withalign yourself with somebody/something a country closely aligned with the West This policy is closely aligned with the goals of the organization.· More than 50 seats were won by independents, many of whom are closely aligned with Mr Khatami's conservative foes.· Deng closely aligned himself with this stance.· Again, this is where sculpture is closely aligned to social and political history.· Love and pity are closely aligned, didn't you know?
Church leaders have aligned themselves with the opposition. a country closely aligned with the West2[intransitive, transitive] to arrange things so that they form a line or are parallel to each other, or to be in a position that forms a line etc: The desks were neatly aligned in rows. Make sure that all the holes align.3[transitive] to organize or change something so that it has the right relationship to something elsebe aligned with something This policy is closely aligned with the goals of the organization.GRAMMAR Align is usually passive in this meaning.