reliance
Americannoun
-
confident or trustful dependence.
- Synonyms:
- assurance, faith, trust, confidence
-
something or someone relied on.
noun
-
dependence, confidence, or trust
-
something or someone upon which one relies
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reliance
Explanation
The word reliance is the noun form of the verb rely, which means to depend. Your reliance on the Internet for your information will be your undoing, if the power ever goes out. A person's reliance on something is their dependence on it. A mime's reliance on silence is the key to his performance: if he speaks, he'll be ruined. Your reliance on the kindness of strangers makes sense when you consider that you'll never run out of strangers upon whom to rely. Too bad you can't just lean on the folks that you know.
Vocabulary lists containing reliance
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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Space
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"Rosa Parks" by Nikki Giovanni
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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.
"Turkey's continued reliance on coal, alongside plans for further expansion, highlights the contradiction at the heart of its current trajectory," Duygu Kutluay of Beyond Fossil Fuels told AFP.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Asked about Turkey's continuing reliance on coal, Bayraktar told AFP in February that Ankara prioritised securing affordable energy supplies and reducing dependence on imports.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Navy’s core blockade competency is something the Chinese Communist Party has to price into its actions, given Beijing’s reliance on imports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The company’s specialized optical fiber is a key component of hyperscale data centers, allowing the company to shift away from reliance on major telecom clients amid stagnating spending in that industry in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Lowland South New Guineans along Torres Strait practiced not the intensive agriculture of the New Guinea highlands but a slash-and-burn agriculture with heavy reliance on seafoods, hunting, and gathering.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
