Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
independent means en · NOUN
Meanings
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(plural, plural-only) Income from one's own assets resulting in no need for employment.
“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:She is a woman of independent means.