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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

Etymology

Origin of independent

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

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

Its lawyers also argue the World Cup was deliberately undervalued at around £15bn, which it says is "a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer".

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

One of the methods evaluated was a recently proposed obesity framework developed by a multidisciplinary group of independent experts.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

That means the ICC usually acts in failed or authoritarian states—such as Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic—where there is little prospect that an independent prosecution can take place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

“I don’t think Tim had ever addressed me by name,” Dailey, now an independent consultant, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Her trunk reaches out to us, moving like an independent creature.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Independent investors, for their part, have seemed little bothered.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

The Independent also features pictures from the devastating Nepal flood disaster, including four Britons who are among the missing.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Independent voting rights groups have also sued to block the Postal Service rules from being implemented.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

The inspection will not examine the conduct or actions of officers who responded to the 3 December incident involving Nowak, which is subject to a separate investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

An Independent Electoral Commission with extensive powers would be responsible for the administration of the election.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

That’s not to say that independents aren’t well supported; most of them align in some way with a larger custodian for those sorts of things.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

Fifty-four percent of registered voters in a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll said they wouldn’t even consider voting for such a candidate, including 54% of independents and 20% of Democrats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Most of the candidates -- the highest number of any parliamentary election -- are standing as independents, and have led to a ballot paper which is nearly a metre long.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

The poll found Talarico garnering 43% of independents to Paxton’s 23%; 29% remain undecided.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 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

Related Words

• autonomous
• nonpartisan
• self-reliant
• self-sufficient
• separate
• sovereign