dependent

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihpehnduhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪˈpɛndənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed
Relying upon; depending upon.
Hanging down.
statistics
Having a probability that is affected by the outcome of a separate event.

noun

A person who relies on another for support or sustenance, particularly financial support.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed

Used this way, dependent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

mutualist , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Irish / aorist

dependent clause

Of part of the body

dependent variablelargely dependent

Unable

entirely dependent

Other combinations

less dependenthighly dependentheavily dependentdependent diabetes

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

dependent clausenounCompound term
A clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb.
dependent variablenounCompound term
A variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value depends on the independent variable.
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitusnounCompound term
Severe diabetes mellitus with an early onset.
non-insulin-dependent diabetesnounCompound term
Mild form of diabetes mellitus that develops gradually in adults.
blood-oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imagingnounCompound term
Functional magnetic resonance imaging that relies on intrinsic changes in hemoglobin oxygenation.
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitusnounCompound term
Mild form of diabetes mellitus that develops gradually in adults.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: relying on or requiring a person

dependant

Antonyms

adjective

Sense: relying on or requiring a person

independent

noun

Sense: person who relies on another for support

independent

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.