Depend
[dɪ'pend] or [dɪ'pɛnd]
Definition
(verb.) be contingent upon (something that is elided); 'That depends'.
Checked by Anita--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above.
(v. i.) To hang in suspense; to be pending; to be undetermined or undecided; as, a cause depending in court.
(v. i.) To rely for support; to be conditioned or contingent; to be connected with anything, as a cause of existence, or as a necessary condition; -- followed by on or upon, formerly by of.
(v. i.) To trust; to rest with confidence; to rely; to confide; to be certain; -- with on or upon; as, we depend on the word or assurance of our friends; we depend on the mail at the usual hour.
(v. i.) To serve; to attend; to act as a dependent or retainer.
(v. i.) To impend.
Checked by Leon
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Hang, be pendent.
Editor: Maureen
Definition
v.i. to hang down: to be sustained by or connected with anything: to be pending: to rely: to rest.—adjs. Depend′able that may be depended on; Depend′ent depending relying on contingent relative.—n. a subordinate: a hanger-on—also Depend′ant.—ns. Depend′ence state of being dependent reliance trust: that on which one depends—also Depend′ance; Depend′ency same as Dependence in the additional sense of a foreign territory dependent on the mother-country a kind of subordinate colony without self-government.—adj. Depend′ing still undetermined.—adv. Depend′ingly.
Typist: Lottie
Examples
- And I am glad of another thing, and that is, that of course you know you may depend upon my keeping it and always so far deserving it. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Depend upon it, they will melt away. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Her decision, she says, will much depend on what you can tell her. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- If my aunt's maid and the other woman have spoken the truth, you may depend upon it the tradesman did meet her. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- For this reason, they have to depend solely upon nitrogenous compounds which are present in the soil and are soluble in water. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- No good, you may depend on it. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- From the angle of statecraft the future of the movement may be said to depend upon the wise use of this raw and scattered power. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- That depends,' said Mrs. Bardell, approaching the duster very near to Mr. Pickwick's elbow which was planted on the table. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I almost dread to-morrow--so much depends on my discretion and self-control. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Much depends on the proper consistency of the ink. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- But in many cases victory depends not so much on general vigour, but on having special weapons, confined to the male sex. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Now, said the physician, we must turn all these creatures out; all depends on his being kept quiet. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- So that the progress of future inventions depends on the outcome of the great economic, industrial, and social battles which are now looming on the pathway of the future. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The length of time in boiling depends upon the depth of color desired. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- They were weary, besides, of humouring the people, and of depending upon their caprice for a subsistence. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- These are of irregular cylindrical form, depending on the form of the tusk’s circumference. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- For years the nations of Europe have been depending to a great extent upon supplies of nitrate of soda obtained from Chile, in South America. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- He did not know but what I was in the rear of the enemy and depending on him to open a new base of supplies for the troops with me. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- These devices were essentially toys, depending for their successful operation (as is the case with motion pictures) upon a physiological phenomenon known as persistence of vision. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs, and stretching entirely across the cave, was a row of human skeletons. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- These plates made up of both line work and halftones are known as combination plates or double-prints, depending upon the way they are produced. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Its completion depended on others. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Obviously, as the cylinder was turned, the needle followed a spiral path whose pitch depended upon that of the feed screw. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I had quite depended upon meeting you there. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Tycho Brahe had a great reverence for Copernicus, but he did not accept his planetary system; and he fe lt that advance in astronomy depended on painstaking observation. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Here I felt that my professional existence depended on not holding my tongue. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- His real use, his real importance depended upon his individual quality. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But it depended upon Steerforth; and he did it with such address, that in a few minutes we were all as easy and as happy as it was possible to be. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Typed by Deirdre