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• independent
  independent

  adjective

  not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself.
• Independent
  Independent

  noun

  (in England) a member of the Congregational Church

independent

American  

[in-di-pen-duhnt] / ˌɪn dɪˈpɛn dənt /

adjective

1. not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself.

   an independent thinker.

2. not subject to another's authority or jurisdiction; autonomous; free.

   an independent businessman.

3. not influenced by the thought or action of others.

   independent research.

4. not dependent; not depending or contingent upon something else for existence, operation, etc.

5. not relying on another or others for aid or support.

6. rejecting others' aid or support; refusing to be under obligation to others.

7. possessing a competency.

   to be financially independent.

8. sufficient to support a person without their having to work.

   an independent income.

9. executed or originating outside a given unit, agency, business, etc.; external.

   an independent inquiry.

10. working for oneself or for a small, privately owned business.

11. expressive of a spirit of independence; self-confident; unconstrained.

    a free and independent citizen.

12. free from party commitments in voting.

    the independent voter.

13. Mathematics. (of a quantity or function) not depending upon another for its value.

14. Grammar. capable of standing syntactically as a complete sentence.

    an independent clause.

15. Logic.

    1. (of a set of propositions) having no one proposition deducible from the others.

    2. (of a proposition) belonging to such a set.

16. Statistics. statistically independent.

17. (initial capital letter) adhering or relating to Independency.

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noun

• independents
  plural

1. an independent person or thing.

2. a small, privately owned business.

   The conglomerates are buying up the independents.

3. Politics. a person who votes for candidates, measures, etc., in accordance with their own judgment and without regard to the endorsement of, or the positions taken by, any party.

4. (initial capital letter) an adherent of Independency.

5. British. a Congregationalist.

idioms

1. independent of, irrespective of; regardless of.

   Independent of monetary considerations, it was a promising position.

independent ¹ British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈpɛndənt /

adjective

1. free from control in action, judgment, etc; autonomous

2. not dependent on anything else for function, validity, etc; separate

   two independent units make up this sofa

3. not reliant on the support, esp financial support, of others

4. capable of acting for oneself or on one's own

   a very independent little girl

5. providing a large unearned sum towards one's support (esp in the phrases independent income, independent means )

6. living on an unearned income

7. maths (of a system of equations) not linearly dependent See also independent variable

8. statistics

   1. (of two or more variables) distributed so that the value taken by one variable will have no effect on that taken by another or others

   2. (of two or more events) such that the probability of all occurring equals the product of their individual probabilities Compare statistical dependence

9. logic

   1. not validly derivable from one another, so that if the propositions are the axioms of some theory none can be dispensed with

   2. not logically related, so that in no case can the truth value of one be inferred from those of the others

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noun

1. an independent person or thing

2. a person who is not affiliated to or who acts independently of a political party

Independent ² British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈpɛndənt /

noun

1. (in England) a member of the Congregational Church

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adjective

1. of or relating to Independency

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonindependent
  adjective
• preindependent
  adjective
• pseudoindependent
  adjective
• quasi-independent
  adjective
• superindependent
  adjective
• independently
  adverb
• nonindependently
  adverb
• preindependently
  adverb
• pseudoindependently
  adverb
• quasi-independently
  adverb
• superindependently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• independents
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of independent

First recorded in 1605–15; in- ³ + dependent

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Explanation

If your brother says you broke his guitar and you say you weren't anywhere near it, your parents may ask your sister for an independent opinion, as she has no reason to lie. An independent person is free from the control or influence of other people. The root word, depend, originally meant "to hang down." We use the word hang in a similar way. If the decision to build a new stadium hangs on funding, the decision won't be made till the money comes in. To be independent means that you don't depend on your parents to pay your bills. Or, for a three year old, it may mean going to the bathroom "all by yourself." It's all relative.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

independent Independent independents

In male mice, however, sister cells are less closely synchronized and tend to follow more independent patterns.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026

Sentencing Commission in the 1980s, an independent federal agency within the judicial branch.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2026

The state “hasn’t thrived in the last decade, and certainly hasn’t thrived since COVID, the way other states have,” said John Horvick, one of Oregon’s leading independent pollsters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

Charts use independent scales to better visualize trends for each car age.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

They would fight at first in small units attached to the French and British armies, and eventually as an independent American army under General Pershing’s command.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

Helm is an author and journalist, who has previously worked at the Sunday Times and as a foreign correspondent for the Independent.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

They account for about 29% in Kansas and about 16% in Texas and Michigan, according to state data compiled by the Independent Voter Project.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

"Independent environmental assessments -- covering grid stability, power supply, water risk, ecology, acoustics and more -- are conducted 12 to 24 months before a project begins," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

The Independent leads with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after he "wins legal fight over police raid on his homes".

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Jimmy survived to go home, even though the Gallup Independent reported that he had been killed in action.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

Younger people have long been more likely to identify as independents, but Gen Z is doing so at a significantly higher rate than any previous generation at the same age.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

That includes 69% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans and 53% of independents.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

More than three-quarters of Americans — including 79% of Democrats, 76% of Republicans and 75% of independents — said they were “concerned that misleading audio or video ‘deepfakes’ created using AI will impact” the midterms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

It hasn't all been plain sailing - already two councillors, Steve Lewis and Rhys Carr, have left Reform to sit as independents, and a third, Nick Farmer, has been suspended by the party.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

“Every hotel concierge knows who to call if some guest wants tickets. All I’m sayin’ is, it’s not as easy as you think for a couple of independents.

From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar

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