dependent

English

Etymology

Originally dependant, from French dépendant, present participle of dépendre (“to hang down”) (in English assimilated to Latin dēpendēntem).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈpɛndənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: de‧pend‧ent

Adjective

dependent (comparative more dependent, superlative most dependent)

1. Relying upon; depending upon.

   At that point I was dependent on financial aid for my tuition.

2. (of certain Irish irregular verbs): standing only after a preverbal particle
3. (of Scottish Gaelic verb forms) Used in questions, negative sentences and after certain particles and prepositions.
4. (medicine) Affecting the lower part of the body, such as the legs while standing up, or the back while supine
5. Hanging down.

   a dependent bough or leaf

Translations

relying upon; depending upon

• Arabic: متوقف (ar) (mutawáqqif), معتمد (ar) (mu3támid)
• Bulgarian: зависим (bg) (zavisim), подчинен (bg) (podčinen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 依靠 (cmn) (yīkào), 倚賴 (cmn), 倚赖 (cmn) (yǐlài)

• Czech: závislý (cs), spoléhající (cs)
• Dutch: afhankelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: dependa (eo)
• Estonian: sõltuv (et)
• French: dépendant (fr)
• German: abhängig (de)
• Greek: εξαρτημένος (el) (exartiménos) m (exartiménos)
• Hebrew: תלוי (he) (talui)
• Japanese: 次第 (ja) (しだい, shidai), 依存する (ja) (いそんする, ison-suru), 頼る (ja) (たよる, tayoru)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avhengig (nb)

  Nynorsk: avhengig (nn)

• Polish: uzależniony (pl) m, zależny (pl) m
• Romanian: dependent (ro) m and n
• Russian: зависимый (ru) (zavísimyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: an urra ri (gd), eisimeileach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: nesamostalan (sh) m, nesamostalna (sh) f, zavisan (sh) m, zavisna (sh) f, òvisan (sh)

• Spanish: dependiente (es)
• Swedish: beroende (sv), avhängig (sv)

of Scottish Gaelic verb forms

• Scottish Gaelic: eisimeileach (gd)

Noun

dependent (plural dependents)

1. (US) One who relies on another for support

   With two children and an ailing mother, she had three dependents in all ... (In British English, this meaning is spelt dependant.)

2. (grammar) An element in phrase or clause structure that is not the head. Includes complements modifiers and determiners.
3. (grammar) The aorist subjunctive or subjunctive perfective: a form of a verb not used independently but preceded by a particle to form the negative or a tense form. Found in Greek and in the Gaelic languages.

Synonyms

• dependant

Related terms

• dependee
• depender

Translations

one who relies on another for support

• Bulgarian: протеже (bg) (proteže) n
• Estonian: ülalpeetav (et)

• French: dépendant (fr) m
• Spanish: dependiente (es) m
• Turkish: bağımlı (tr)

Related terms

• depend
• dependent clause
• dependent variable
• depending
• independent
• co-dependent

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Latin

Verb

dēpendent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of dēpendeō

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Romanian

Adjective

dependent m, n

1. dependent

Antonyms

• independent