alley
/ˈæl.i/
alley noun: a narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
Noun (1)
alley (plural alleys)
- A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
- The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley.
- Synonyms:
- alleyway
- The area between the outfielders.
- He hit one deep into the alley.
- Synonyms:
- gap
- An establishment where bowling is played.
- Synonyms:
- bowling alley
- An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
- Synonyms:
- lane
- The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
- A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
- I know each lane and every alley green.1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
- A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
- Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
- The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
- A group of clowns; the collective noun for clowns.
- […] alley of clowns had sprung like a fungus growth from the dung heap of the First World War.2017, Charles William Jefford, Academia Nuts, page 78
- “[…] Something must've happened to him when he was little.”
“Which would give him a reason to hate them,” Oliver replied and was pushed aside by an alley of clowns. “Hey!”
“Sorry, kid. Didn't see you there,” one clown called over.2021, T. K. Wrathbone, All Clowns Must Die!
Noun (2)
alley (plural alleys)
- A marble (small ball used in games).
Proper noun capitalized: Alley
Alley (plural Alleys)
- A surname.
- A female given name.
alley meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
alley in Hindi
- narrow street
- गली galī, कूचा kūcā
alley in Tamil
- குறுந்தெரு, சந்து, கை ஒழுங்கை, தோட்டப்பாதை, குறுந்ததெரு
alley in Urdu
- narrow street
- گَلی galī, کُوچَہ kūca
alley in Bengali
- narrow street
- গলি goli
More languagesFewer languages
- alley in Malayalam
- ഉദ്യാനപാത, ഇടവഴി, ഒറ്റയടിപ്പാത, ഉദ്യാനവീഥി
- alley in Kannada
- ಓಣಿ
- alley in Punjabi
- ਗਲੀ galī, گَلی galī
- alley in Assamese
- আলি ali, বাট bat
- alley in Pashto
- کوڅه ګۍ kuca gǝy
- alley in Arabic
- زُقَاق zuqāq
- alley in Malay
- lorong
- alley in Indonesian
- gang
- alley in Thai
- ซอย sɔɔi, ตรอก dtrɔ̀ɔk
- alley in Vietnamese
- hẻm
- alley in Myanmar
- ဒူးလမ်း du:lam:, လမ်းကြား lam:kra:
Examples of alley in a sentence
- The alley is full of stray cats rummaging through the garbage.
- She had nothing better to do, so she went to the bowling alley to kill time.
- This article would be right up his alley. Why don't you show it to him?
Synonyms of alley
27 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of alley
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | alleys |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Alleys |
| alternative form | Aley |
Origin of alley
From Middle English aleye, from Anglo-Norman aleie, feminine of alé, past participle of aler (“to go”) (French aller). Doublet of allée.
Diminutive of alabaster, from which they were once made.
Words formed from alley
- blood alley
- alley apple
- alley ball
- alley cat
- alley crop
- alleyed
- alleyful
- alleygating
- alleylike
- alley stone
- alleyway
- back alley
- back-alley
- ball alley
- blind alley
- bowling alley
- Bowling Alley Point
- Carolina Alley
- Dixie Alley
- down someone's alley
- Gasoline Alley
- Hailstorm Alley
- handball alley
- Hoosier Alley
- Hurricane Alley
- Iceberg Alley
- kilowatt alley
- MiG Alley
- O'Malley's Alley
- Peacock Alley
- power alley
- right up someone's alley
- shaft alley
- sideshow alley
- skittle alley
- South Alley
- Stroke Alley
- Tornado Alley
- Typhoon Alley
- up someone's alley
Phrases with alley
- alley oop
- alley cats
- alley oops
- alley balls
- alley crops
- alley ooped
- alley apples
- alley catted
- alley ooping
- Change Alley
- alley catting
- alley cropped
5 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with alley
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about alley
- What does alley mean?
- Alley means a narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
- What is alley in Hindi?
- Alley in Hindi is गली (galī), कूचा (kūcā). See Alley meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is alley?
- Alley can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce alley?
- Alley is pronounced /ˈæl.i/.
- What is the plural of alley?
- The plural of alley is alleys.
Words near alley in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alley (page history and authors); Alley (page history and authors); alley (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alley (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alley (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-alley.ogg.
Cite this entry: “alley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.