- To rely, especially for support or maintenance: Children must depend on their parents.
- To place trust or confidence: You can depend on his honesty. See synonyms at rely.
- To be determined, conditioned, or contingent: a grade depending on the results of the final exam.
- To have a dependence: began to depend more and more on drugs.
- To be pending or undecided, as in a court or legislature.
- To hang down: "And ever-living Lamps depend in Rows" (Alexander Pope).
[Middle English dependen, to hang down, from Old French dependre, from Latin dēpendēre : dē-, de- + pendēre, to hang.]
USAGE NOTE In writing, depend is followed by on or upon when indicating condition or contingency, as in It depends on who is in charge. Omission of the preposition is typical of casual speech.





