Alaska as a 1940s armoured-cruiser analogue

Could the Alaska-class large cruisers be considered armoured cruisers?

Yes in functional lineage; their scale resembles what a continuously developed armoured cruiser might have become by the 1940s, even though they are often labelled battlecruisers.

The Alaska class fits an armoured-cruiser analogue in functional and developmental terms. Its enormous size beside treaty heavy cruisers explains why it is often called a battlecruiser. If the older armoured-cruiser line had continued evolving instead of stopping in the Dreadnought era, a 1940s descendant might have reached approximately Alaska's scale. This distinction separates historical lineage and role from labels based mainly on relative size.