- followed by on or upon:
to put trust (in); rely (on); be sure (of) - usually followed by on or upon; often with it as subject:
to be influenced or determined (by); be resultant (from): whether they come or not depends on the weather, it all depends on you - followed by on or upon:
to rely (on) for income, support, etc - (followed by from)
to hang down; be suspended to be undecided or pending
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
de•pend /dɪˈpɛnd/USA pronunciation
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- [ ~ + on/upon + obj] to rely on;
place trust in:You may depend on our tact. - [ ~ + on/upon] to rely on for support or help:Farmers depend upon the rain and the weather forecast.
- [ not: be + ~-ing;
~ + on/upon] to be determined by;
to be conditioned by:Our plans depend on the weather. - [ not: be + ~-ing;
no obj;
it + ~] to be undecided;
to be undetermined;
to be pending:Are you going to the party? —It depends;
I may not. That all depends;
are you going?
- depend is a verb, dependable is an adjective, dependent is an adjective and a noun, dependence is a noun:I knew I could depend on you to help me. You are very dependable. His children are dependent on him for support. He listed his children as dependents on his tax form. The teenagers still showed great dependence on their parents.
de•pend
(di pend′),USA pronunciation v.i.
- to rely;
place trust (usually fol. by on or upon):You may depend on the accuracy of the report. - to rely for support, maintenance, help, etc. (usually fol. by on or upon):Children depend on their parents.
- to be conditioned or contingent (usually fol. by on or upon):His success here depends upon effort and ability.
- to be undetermined or pending:I may go to Europe or I may not, it all depends.
- Grammar(of a word or other linguistic form) to be subordinate to another linguistic form in the same construction;
to form a part of a construction other than the head. - to hang down;
be suspended (usually fol. by from):The chandelier depends from the ceiling of the ballroom.
- Latin dēpendere to hang down, equivalent. to dē- de- + pendere to hang
- Old French dependre
- late Middle English dependen 1375–1425
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'depend on' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
PVC
- associated state
- bank
- bargain on
- behaviour therapy
- colloid
- count on
- depend
- found
- fourth dimension
- gentleman-farmer
- hang on
- hinge
- light
- physical chemistry
- pivot
- reflectivity
- short
- soft skills
- split infinitive
- stand
- throwback
- trust
- variable life insurance