depending on a person or thing for aid, support, life, etc - (postpositive; followed by on or upon)
influenced or conditioned (by); contingent (on) subordinate; subject hanging down
- a variant spelling (esp US) of dependant
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
de•pend•ent /dɪˈpɛndənt/USA pronunciation
adj.
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- relying on someone or something else for aid or support:dependent on her parents until she got a job.
- [ be + ~ + on + obj] conditioned or determined by something else;
contingent:Our trip is dependent on the weather. - Grammarused only in connection with other forms, not in isolation;
subordinate. In the sentence I walked out when the bell rang, the clause when the bell rang is a dependent clause. Compare independent (def. 8).
n. [countable]
- a person, such as a child, who depends on someone for aid or support:Our children are no longer listed as dependents on our tax forms.
de•pend•ent
(di pen′dənt),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
de•pend′ent•ly, adv.
- relying on someone or something else for aid, support, etc.
- conditioned or determined by something else;
contingent:Our trip is dependent on the weather. - subordinate;
subject:a dependent territory. - Grammarnot used in isolation;
used only in connection with other forms. In I walked out when the bell rang, when the bell rang is a dependent clause. Cf. independent (def. 14), main 1 (def. 4). - hanging down;
pendent. - Mathematics
- (of a variable) having values determined by one or more independent variables.
- (of an equation) having solutions that are identical to those of another equation or to those of a set of equations.
- Statistics(of an event or a value) not statistically independent.
n.
- a person who depends on or needs someone or something for aid, support, favor, etc.
- a child, spouse, parent, or certain other relative to whom one contributes all or a major amount of necessary financial support:She listed two dependents on her income-tax form.
- [Archaic.]a subordinate part.
- late Middle English dependaunt. See depend, -ent 1375–1425
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