DEPENDENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dependent mean? 

• DEPENDENT (noun)
  The noun DEPENDENT has 1 sense:

1. a person who relies on another person for support (especially financial support)

  Familiarity information: DEPENDENT used as a noun is very rare.

• DEPENDENT (adjective)
  The adjective DEPENDENT has 6 senses:

1. relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed

2. contingent on something else

3. (of a clause) unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence

4. held from above and hanging down

5. being under the power or sovereignty of another or others

6. addicted to a drug

  Familiarity information: DEPENDENT used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPENDENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who relies on another person for support (especially financial support)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dependant; dependent

Hypernyms ("dependent" is a kind of...):

receiver; recipient (a person who receives something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dependent"):

charge (a person committed to your care)

minion (a servile or fawning dependant)

Derivation:

dependent (relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed)

• DEPENDENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed

Context example:

dependent on moisture

Similar:

myrmecophilous (living symbiotically with ants)

underage (dependent by virtue of youth)

symbiotic (used of organisms (especially of different species) living together but not necessarily in a relation beneficial to each)

reliant (relying on another for support)

bloodsucking; leechlike; parasitic; parasitical (of plants or persons; having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another)

interdependent; mutualist; mutually beneficial (mutually dependent)

helpless (unable to manage independently)

babelike (like a baby especially in dependence)

Also:

unfree (hampered and not free; not able to act at will)

Attribute:

independence; independency (freedom from control or influence of another or others)

Antonym:

independent (free from external control and constraint)

Derivation:

dependence; dependency (the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else)

dependent (a person who relies on another person for support (especially financial support))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Contingent on something else

Synonyms:

dependant; dependent; qualified

Similar:

conditional (imposing or depending on or containing a condition)

Derivation:

depend (be contingent upon (something that is elided))

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of a clause) unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence

Synonyms:

dependent; subordinate

Context example:

a subordinate (or dependent) clause functions as a noun or adjective or adverb within a sentence

Domain category:

grammar (the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics))

Antonym:

independent ((of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Held from above and hanging down

Synonyms:

dependent; pendant; pendent

Context example:

a pendant bunch of grapes

Similar:

supported (held up or having the weight borne especially from below)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Being under the power or sovereignty of another or others

Synonyms:

dependent; subject

Context example:

a dependent prince

Similar:

subordinate (subject or submissive to authority or the control of another)

Derivation:

dependency (a geographical area politically controlled by a distant country)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Addicted to a drug

Synonyms:

dependant; dependent; drug-addicted; hooked; strung-out

Similar:

addicted (compulsively or physiologically dependent on something habit-forming)

Derivation:

dependence; dependency (being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs))

 Context examples 

This bacteria is nonmotile, catalase positive, nonencapsulated, and is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dependent.

(Actinobacillus suis, NCI Thesaurus)

Acipimox has special application for the treatment of hyperlipidemia in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients.

(Acipimox, NCI Thesaurus)

The Drosophila gene Acf1 encodes ATP-dependent chromatin assembly factor large subunit, a component of the chromatin assembly complex involved in chromatin assembly/disassembly.

(ACF complex, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein plays a role in protein kinase-dependent signaling and embryonic development.

(Activin Receptor Type-2B, NCI Thesaurus)

A cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor with antineoplastic activity.

(AG-024322, NCI Thesaurus)

Programmed cell death is induced by many different factors and involves numerous signaling pathways, some dependent on caspase proteases and others that are caspase independent.

(AIF Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This protein is involved in the modulation of receptor signaling and receptor-dependent transcription.

(AH Receptor-Interacting Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

Thereby, aceglatone may suppress the developments of hormone-dependent cancers mediated through beta-glucuronidase inhibition.

(Aceglatone, NCI Thesaurus)

Among adults, they are linked to hypothyroidism, infertility, diabetes, and hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer.

(Nine out of ten pairs of baby socks on the market contain traces of bisphenol A and parabens, University of Granada)

Such losses will be dramatic as most countries in the Pacific are dependent on fisheries for food and livelihoods.

(Pacific island fish migrating to cooler seas, SciDev.Net)