Dictionary

depend en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /dəˈpɛnd/ weak vowel merger
• /dəˈpend/ (New-Zealand)
• /dɪˈpɛnd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /dɪˈpend/ (Australia)
• /dɪˈpɛnd/ (General-American)
• /di-/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- Proto-Indo-European *(s)pn̥d-éh₁ye-ti Proto-Italic *pendējō Proto-Italic *pendēō Latin pendeō Latin dependeōder. Old French dependreder. Middle English dependen English depend Inherited from Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre, from Latin dependeō, from dē- + pendeō (“to be suspended, hang”). In this sense, displaced native Old English hangian (“to hang or depend”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
   • We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.
   • Gold don't carry any curse with it. It all depends on whether or not the guy who finds it is the right guy. The way I see it, gold can be as much of a blessing as a curse 1948, John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, spoken by Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart):
   • There's not much room for error in the unforgiving Arctic wilderness, where hunters' lives depend on skill, experience, and a buddy's helping hand. 1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 18:
2. (intransitive) To trust; to have confidence; to rely.
   • we should all be able to depend on the word or assurance of our friends
   • "It's another wedding present, you may depend," Dicky said—"a beastly surprise, I shouldn't wonder." 1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC:
   • we depend on the mailman to come at the usual time.
3. (literary) To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge, decoration, or element is suspended from another part of an achievement of arms.
   • In the centre is an Imperial Crown, from which depend a Harp of gold and the Badge. 1893, John Edwin Cussen (1837–1899), Handbook of Heraldry, 4th edition, London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, via Internet Archive (UC Berkeley), page 247:
   • At the wedding feast of Agnes and Bob, all was meant for the best, and there was grewat good humour, but there was also a stiffness, a constraint. It did not touch them: Agnes was radiant in a gown of white silksand laces which would not have disgraced the Castle itself, her fair hair bound and coiled after the fashion of that year, and wearing her father's special gift to her, a necklace of interwoven gold and silver from which depended a fiery stone, intricately cut, and housed within elaborate gold, thin-hammered. 1988, Thomas Flanagan, novel: The Tenants of Time chapter 13
   • He had prepared a sort of collar of leather with many straps depending from it. 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
   • Besides, if you worked up to be a cadet officer, you got to wear a Sam Browne belt, from which depended a nifty saber. 1982, Paul Fussell, My War:
   • Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low, slightly vaulted ceiling, and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls without windows, representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in medieval costumes. 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent:
   • The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
4. (archaic) To be pending; to be undetermined or undecided.
   • a cause depending in court
   • "A Letter of the King sent to his Proctors at Rome, concerning a Case of his in the said Court depending." 1837, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, page 544:
   • While the Bishops Affair was depending, the King sent orders [...] 1703, The History Of King William The Third. In III Parts:
   • In perjury, the capias, warrant, and affidavit, are good evidence that a cause was depending. 1836, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench:
5. (transitive) To cause to be contingent or dependent on; to set as a necessity.
   • There he wilted, obviously depending the disposal of his person and his plight on Bradly, and expecting that to be done at once, too. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:

Forms

Deriveds

where you stand depends on where you sit · depender · dependent · dependency · like one's life depended on it · undepending · dependee · dependant · dependingly · dependancy · dependance · depending on · it depends · dependence · dependable · depends who's asking · dependability · as if one's life depends on it · dependible · interdepend

Relateds

depending

Synonyms

pivot · hinge on · ride

Translations (93)

sh овисити (be contingent or conditioned) · az asılı olmaq (be contingent or conditioned) · fi riippua jostakin (be pending) · pl zależeć (be contingent or conditioned) · ru свиса́ть (hang down) · es pender (hang down) · it pendere (hang down) · ru доверя́ть (trust) · es ser dependiente (de) (be contingent or conditioned) · ru зави́сеть (be contingent or conditioned) · ru положи́ться (trust) · nl afhangen (be contingent or conditioned) · ru полага́ться (trust) · fi olla riippuvainen (serve) · ko ...에 달려 있다 (be contingent or conditioned) · da afhænge (be contingent or conditioned) · id tergantung (be contingent or conditioned) · vi phụ thuộc (be contingent or conditioned) · cmn 伺候 (serve) · ga braith (be contingent or conditioned) · cs záležet (be contingent or conditioned) · nl hangende zijn (be pending) · cmn 信任 (trust) · fi luottaa (trust) · fi riippua (hang down) · sw tegemea (trust) · gd bi an crochadh (be contingent or conditioned) · es depender/pender (de) (be contingent or conditioned) · fr dépendre (be contingent or conditioned) · sv bero på (be contingent or conditioned) · nn avhenge (be contingent or conditioned) · da hænge ned (hang down) · gd croch (be pending) · ru ви́снуть (hang down) · uk поклада́тися (trust) · fi riippua (be contingent or conditioned) · ro depinde (be contingent or conditioned) · pt pendurar (hang down) · mi whakawhirinaki (trust) · bg разчитам (trust) · bn ভরসা করা (trust) · hu függ (be contingent or conditioned) · nb stole på (trust) · eo dependi (be contingent or conditioned) · ca dependre (be contingent or conditioned) · nn stole på (trust) · ka დამოკიდებულია (be contingent or conditioned) · bg вися (hang down) · uk зале́жати (be contingent or conditioned) · da være uafgjort (be pending) · nn avhange (be contingent or conditioned) · de abhängen (be contingent or conditioned) · da stole på (trust) · cs záviset (be contingent or conditioned) · it fare affidamento (trust) · sh ovisiti (be contingent or conditioned) · ko 의존하다 (be contingent or conditioned) · la nītor (trust) · ja 依存する (be contingent or conditioned) · it pendere (be pending) · cy dibynnu (be contingent or conditioned) · sh zavisiti (be contingent or conditioned) · cmn 垂 (hang down) · mba kagsalig (trust) · bn নির্ভর করা (be contingent or conditioned) · ang hangian (be contingent or conditioned) · fi roikkua (hang down) · gd bi an crochadh (be pending) · it dipendere (be contingent or conditioned) · pl polegać (trust) · th พึ่ง (be contingent or conditioned) · mk зависи (be contingent or conditioned) · mrw sarig (trust) · bg вярвам (trust) · he היה תלוי (be contingent or conditioned) · pt confiar (trust) · nl vertrouwen (trust) · nb avhenge (be contingent or conditioned) · et usaldama (trust) · ru висе́ть (hang down) · es pender (be pending) · fi turvautua (trust) · da regne med (trust) · sh зависити (be contingent or conditioned) · pt depender (be contingent or conditioned) · gd croch (be contingent or conditioned) · sv ankomma på (be contingent or conditioned) · cmn 信賴 /信赖 (trust) · uk покла́стися (trust) · de ankommen (be contingent or conditioned) · nl hangen (hang down) · my အားကိုး (trust) · fr pendre (hang down)