dependent
dependents; dependently
Being dependent means relying on something. Many people are dependent on coffee in the morning, while a dependent is someone who relies on you for financial support. In grammar-land, a dependent clause can’t stand alone because it’s a fragment.
Dependent comes from pendant, the French word for "hanging.” If you break your leg, you will be dependent, or hanging, on crutches to get around. Kids are dependents of their parents, since they rely on them for food and shelter. A drug addict is dependent on drugs. And if a decision is dependent on your mood, that means it depends on or will be decided by how you feel.
Definitions of dependent
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a person who relies on another person for support (especially financial support)
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contingent on something else
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conditional
imposing or depending on or containing a condition
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conditional
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relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed“dependent children”“dependent on moisture”
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Synonyms:
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babelike
like a baby especially in dependence
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helpless
unable to manage independently
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interdependent, mutualist, mutually beneficial
mutually dependent
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myrmecophilous
living symbiotically with ants
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bloodsucking, leechlike, parasitic, parasitical
of plants or persons; having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another
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reliant
relying on another for support
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symbiotic
used of organisms (especially of different species) living together but not necessarily in a relation beneficial to each
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underage
dependent by virtue of youth
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unfree
hampered and not free; not able to act at will
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Antonyms:
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independent
free from external control and constraint
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autarkic, autarkical
of countries; not relying on imports
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autonomous, self-directed, self-reliant
(of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment
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autonomous
existing as an independent entity
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breakaway, fissiparous, separatist
having separated or advocating separation from another entity or policy or attitude
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commutative
(of a binary operation) independent of order; as in e.g. "a x b = b x a"
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free-living, nonparasitic, nonsymbiotic
not parasitic on another organism
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indie
(of pop groups) not affiliated with a major recording company
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case-by-case, individual, item-by-item
separate and distinct from others of the same kind
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self-sufficient, self-sufficing, self-sustaining
able to provide for your own needs without help from others
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self-supporting
financially independent
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single-handed
without help from others
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strong-minded
marked by vigorous independence of thought and judgment
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unaffiliated
not affiliated
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unconditional
not contingent; not determined or influenced by someone or something else
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free
able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint
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separate
independent; not united or joint
- show more antonyms...
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babelike
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held from above
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being under the power or sovereignty of another or others“a dependent prince”
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synonyms:
subject
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subordinate
subject or submissive to authority or the control of another
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subordinate
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addicted to a drug
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synonyms:
dependant, drug-addicted, hooked, strung-out
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addicted
compulsively or physiologically dependent on something habit-forming
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addicted
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(of a clause) unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence“a subordinate (or dependent) clause functions as a noun or adjective or adverb within a sentence”
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synonyms:
subordinate
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Antonyms:
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independent, main
(of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence
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independent, main
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘dependent'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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