dependency

American  

[dih-pen-duhn-see] / dɪˈpɛn dən si /

Or dependancy

noun

• dependencies
  plural

1. the state of being dependent; dependence.

2. something dependent or subordinate; appurtenance.

3. an outbuilding or annex.

4. a subject territory that is not an integral part of the ruling country.

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dependency British  

/ dɪˈpɛndənsɪ /

noun

1. a territory subject to a state on which it does not border

2. a dependent or subordinate person or thing

3. psychol overreliance by a person on another person or on a drug, etc

4. another word for dependence

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nondependancy
  noun
• nondependency
  noun
• self-dependency
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dependencies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dependency

First recorded in 1585–95; dependence + -y ³

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Explanation

Dependency happens when you can't function without the help of someone or something. If you have a dependency on coffee, you need it to be human in the morning. Not sure? Ask the people you live with. A dependency on the help or support of another person isn't necessarily negative, but other kinds of dependency — on something habit-forming or addictive, like cigarettes — can be harmful. You can also use this noun to mean "a country, province, or territory controlled by a bigger, more powerful country." Guam and Puerto Rico, which don't have complete independence from the US, can be called dependencies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dependency dependencies

They instead often raised expectations, forced dependency and gave rise to a vision of progress that reinforced social exclusion, bred anxieties about status, and concealed the environmental costs of a culture built on consumption.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Regulations on AI companion bots took effect in July, aiming to curb emotional dependency and banning the creation of digital clones of real people without their consent.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

It has cited a host of governance issues and the group’s refusal to “transparently explain the sources of its financing or to explain its full financial dependency, at the time, on a single state-owned company.”

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

The new research puts an unusually large economic number on that dependency.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Schooled to believe that self-indulgence of any kind was morally unacceptable, Ellen was deeply ashamed of her dependency upon coffee.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

Paris and Berlin also recommended the creation of a diversification instrument to curb European trade dependencies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Compared with chemical dependencies, which have been well understood since before the first DSM was compiled in 1952, the framework for describing so-called behavioral addictions is extremely new, he and others said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

When he studied the brochures of eight CCRCs across the country, the infirmities and dependencies of old age seemed buried.

From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026

The supply chain is a straight line of dependencies: Filipino consumers rely on Vietnamese rice, and Vietnamese farmers rely on Chinese fertiliser.

From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026

At Monticello, several enslaved servants lived in underground rooms with stone walls and brick floors, near the dependencies beneath the first floor of the main house.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

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