# dependent

Pronunciation: say "di-PEN-duhnt" /dɪˈpɛndənt/

## Adjective

1. Relying on someone or something else for support, help, or what is needed.
   - Simple: Needing someone or something else for help or support.
   - _Small farms remain dependent on seasonal rainfall for their harvest._
   - _Over the years she became dependent on the medication her doctor prescribed._
3. In probability, of two or more events, such that the occurrence of one affects how likely the other is.
   - Simple: Describing an outcome whose chance of happening changes because of another event.
   - _In sampling without replacement, each draw is dependent on the ones before it._
   - _Two events are dependent when knowing one happened changes how likely the other is._
5. Hanging down; drooping downward.
   - Simple: Hanging down or drooping toward the ground.
   - _Dependent icicles lined the edge of the roof after the storm._
   - _The chandelier's dependent crystals caught the candlelight._
6. Of a body part: positioned lower than the heart, such as the legs while standing or the back while lying face up.
   - Simple: Describes a body part that sits lower than the heart, such as the legs when you stand.
   - _Nurses check the dependent limbs for swelling during long periods of bed rest._
   - _Fluid tends to collect in dependent regions of the body under the pull of gravity._
7. Of a verb form, used after most particles, such as those marking questions, subordinate clauses, and negative sentences.
   - Simple: Describes a verb form that is used only after a small word, such as a question or negative word.
   - _Scottish Gaelic verbs take a dependent form after the interrogative particle._
   - _The negative particle triggers the dependent form of the verb._

## Noun

2. Someone who relies on another person to provide for them, especially financially. *(US)*
   - Simple: A person who depends on someone else for money, food, or care.
   - _The pension continues to support a surviving spouse and any dependents._
   - _As his mother's only dependent, she received extra assistance._
4. Any constituent of a phrase or clause other than its head, including complements, modifiers, and determiners. *(US)*
   - Simple: A word in a phrase that depends on the main word instead of being the main word itself.
   - _Adjectives and determiners act as dependents of the noun they modify._
   - _In dependency grammar, each dependent connects to exactly one head._
8. A verb form not used on its own but preceded by a particle to mark a negative or a tense; the aorist subjunctive or subjunctive perfective, found in Greek and the Gaelic languages. *(US)*
   - Simple: A verb form that cannot stand alone and must follow a small grammar word, used in Greek and Gaelic.
   - _The dependent in Classical Greek needs a preceding particle to convey its tense._
   - _Old Irish grammar distinguishes the dependent from the independent verb form._

## Origin

It comes from Middle English dependaunt/dependent, borrowed from Middle French dependant (the present participle of dependre, "to depend") and Latin dēpendēns (the present participle of dēpendeō, "to depend"). By surface analysis it is depend + -ent.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dependent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).