depend
Americanverb (used without object)
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depends,
present (3rd person singular)
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depended,
past participle, past
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depending
present participle
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to rely; place trust (usually followed by on orupon ).
You may depend on the accuracy of the report.
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to rely for support, maintenance, help, etc. (usually followed by on orupon ).
Children depend on their parents.
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to be conditioned or contingent (usually followed by on orupon ).
His success here depends upon effort and ability.
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to be undetermined or pending.
I may go to Europe or I may not, it all depends.
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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.
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to hang down; be suspended (usually followed byfrom ).
The chandelier depends from the ceiling of the ballroom.
verb
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to put trust (in); rely (on); be sure (of)
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to be influenced or determined (by); be resultant (from)
whether you come or not depends on what father says
it all depends on you
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to rely (on) for income, support, etc
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rare (foll by from) to hang down; be suspended
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to be undecided or pending
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dependsimple
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dependssimple
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have dependedperfect
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has dependedperfect
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am dependingprogressive
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are dependingprogressive
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is dependingprogressive
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have been dependingperfect progressive
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has been dependingperfect progressive
Past
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dependedsimple
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had dependedperfect
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was dependingprogressive
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were dependingprogressive
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had been dependingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of depend
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre, from Latin dēpendere “to hang down,” from dē- de- + pendere “to hang”
Explanation
To depend is to have confidence in something or someone. You can depend on your most loyal friend to show up for your modern dance performance in the park (although you probably can't depend on her liking it). Depend can also mean "determined by or contingent on something else." For example, if rain is in the forecast, your outdoor dance performance may be cancelled; it depends on the weather. Depend is almost always followed by the word on or upon, with upon being more formal. If you're speaking informally, you may drop the on or upon, as in "It all depends how you feel." Your decision to do that will, of course, depend upon your audience.
Vocabulary lists containing depend
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Sarah, Plain and Tall
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"How Do We Use Water?"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Requirements depend on the number of seats and engines on the aircraft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Shareholders are being asked to take less cash back today in exchange for profits that depend on that spending paying off.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
“A lot of countries you thought you can depend on were not there for you,” Gargash said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Officials acknowledge that the countries' commitment and contributions will depend on the circumstances of a cessation of hostilities and individual nations' political decisions.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
“I can obscure your progress somewhat, but the success of your journey will depend on you, Hazel Levesque. You must learn to use the Mist.”
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
"The right choice ultimately depends on borrowers being confident they can stomach future rises. The devil is in the detail," said Rachel Springall from Moneyfacts.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
What Trump does with Hegseth depends in part on what he wants to do in Iran.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
Instead, it depends on several interconnected abilities, with language-related skills playing especially important roles.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
How much you receive depends on your investment, the interest rate and the payment schedule, as well as your age, your gender and whether the contract is a joint-and-survivor annuity.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
“I guess the main event depends on where you were standing,” George says.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Many hospitals depended on charitable donations, subscriptions and fundraising events to survive.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Traditional methods depended on a collection of representative points to estimate distances.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
Wendy’s new CEO has told franchisees and investors that the company shortchanged ingredient quality for cost savings, that service had become uneven and that Wendy’s depended too much on deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
But the pleasure depended on a temporary arrangement, one in which somebody else’s home had been made available for my enjoyment, and in which I understood that eventually I’d have to hand it back.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
“I wouldn’t know how to calculate odds if my life depended on it,” he said.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
However, AI overviews are driving down that click-through rate even further — to as little as around one-third, depending on estimates, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
"The University Management Board has agreed to identify approximately £10m of savings this year and, depending on the final position with public funding, further difficult choices may have to follow this academic year," Greer said.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
“The combination of persistent inflation pressures and robust consumption should keep further monetary tightening on the agenda, with the December and February meetings potentially in play depending on incoming inflation data.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Instead, it demonstrates something that was previously difficult to test: A quantum system can possess a meaningful internal measure of time without depending on an external clock.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
A truck driver for a car factory, he drove brand-new shiny cars to dealerships around the country and could be gone weeks at a time, depending on the schedule.
From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
