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:
The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have been arguing for years about how to share the river's water without being able to reach an agreement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
That would depend on a “strategic reset” of Apple Intelligence, helped by an Nvidia deal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
The results suggest that the repeated emergence of complex insect societies may depend more on biological traits specific to certain evolutionary groups than on the way chromosomes are inherited.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
In short, it will depend on how long the ban is.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
What we know about the world and what we think we know depend entirely on how we perceive it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Syth said those early moves put Delta further along in its "commercial journey", and the pace at which an airline introduces new offerings often depends on how developed its strategy already is.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
In the Moneyist reader’s utopia, everyone has an out-of-pocket cap that depends on their income, and health insurance covers the genuinely catastrophic expenses above that ceiling.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Instead, the worm depends on symbiotic bacteria that live beneath its skin, which it digests as a source of nutrition.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
And while the previous Syrian government relied on Iran and Russia, Mr. al-Sharaa’s depends on Western and Gulf support, foreign investment and international acceptance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
“That depends on what you have to offer,” he replied.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Evyn Le Espiritu Gandhi, a faculty member in Asian American studies, has depended on the program for her two children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
That finding suggests that the earliest metabolism depended much more heavily on the surrounding environment than modern cellular metabolism does.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Arm became known as the Switzerland of semiconductors because it supplied the foundation neutrally, without competing against the companies that depended on it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
But Araghchi said a full reopening of the typically busy maritime route depended on other conditions being met, of which he provided a cursory appraisal.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Theodoric’s analysis depended partly on examining rainbow-like images that he encountered in daily life: in the spray thrown up by a turning water-wheel, in the drops of dew on a spider’s web.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
But Jefferies’ Edison Lee said the model could cost consumers as much as $3,099, depending on storage capacity.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
The Big Island airports were expected to resume operations Sunday, depending on conditions after the storm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Meanwhile, an analysis by the Yale Budget Lab concluded that consumers are paying anywhere from half to the entire cost of the levies through higher prices, depending on the goods.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
"The oil that settles on the seafloor, depending on when and where it is, could persist for years," he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
In particular, notice that some symbols, such as the 11minus11 sign and the triangle, can refer to different chords, depending on the assumptions of the person who wrote the symbol.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
