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Definition dependent in British English

dependent adjective

adjective
/dɪˈpendənt/

The usual preposition to use with ong>dependentong> is on, not of:

✗ Women in those times were totally dependent of their husbands.

✓ Women in those times were totally dependent on their husbands.

✗ The organization of a society is largely dependent of its economic system.

✓ The organization of a society is largely dependent on its economic system.

You can also use the preposition ong>uponong>, but this is much less frequent than on, and it sounds very formal.

Don’t confuse dependent (an adjective) and dependant (a noun).

✗ society’s stereotypes of women as weak, passive and dependant individuals

✓ society’s stereotypes of women as weak, passive and dependent individuals

A dependant is someone, such as a child or older person, who depends on their relatives for care, food etc:

special allowances for women who have to give up work to look after elderly dependants

1

if you are dependent on someone or something, you need them in order to live or succeed

Example

a married couple with dependent children

Example

They hate being dependent on their parents.

Synonyms and related words
2

if one thing is dependent on another, it is affected by the other thing and changes if the other thing changes

Example

Your pay is dependent on your work experience.

Synonyms and related words
Definition dependent in British English