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independent

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Not controlled or supported by something else

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihndihpehnduhnt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪndɪˈpɛndənt

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

  1. Not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free.

  2. Not subject to bias or influence; self-directing.

  3. politics

    Not affiliated with any political party.

  4. Free from external control and constraint

  5. Separate from; exclusive; irrespective.

  6. Providing a comfortable livelihood.

noun

  1. A candidate or voter not affiliated with any political party, a freethinker, free of a party platform.

  2. A neutral or uncommitted person (especially in politics)

  3. A small, privately owned business.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free.

Used this way, independent 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

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

More ways to use independent

  • “An independent mind.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Affiliated / candidate

independent nation

Subject

independent variable

Writer

independent contractor

Other combinations

independent studyindependent livingindependent statenewly independentindependent action

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • independent clausenounCompound term

    A clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence.

  • independent state of samoanounCompound term

    A constitutional monarchy on the western part of the islands of Samoa in the South Pacific.

  • independent variablenounCompound term

    A variable whose values are independent of changes in the values of other variables.

  • independent state of papua new guineanounCompound term

    A parliamentary democracy on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea.

  • independent agencynounCompound term

    An agency of the United States government that is created by an act of Congress and is independent of the executive departments.

  • commonwealth of independent statesnounCompound term

    An alliance made up of states that had been Soviet Socialist Republics in the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution in Dec 1991.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: not dependent

subordinateTechnical

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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.