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Dependent vs Independent - What's the difference?

dependent | independent |

As adjectives the difference between dependent and independent

is that dependent is relying upon; depending upon while independent is not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free.

As nouns the difference between dependent and independent

is that dependent is (us) one who relies on another for support while independent is a candidate or voter not affiliated with any political party, a free thinker, free of a party platform.

dependent

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Relying upon; depending upon.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.}}
  • Used in questions, negative sentences and after certain particles and prepositions.
  • (medicine) Affecting the lower part of the body, such as the legs while standing up, or the back while supine.
  • Hanging down.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US) One who relies on another for support
  • With two children and an ailing mother, she had three dependents in all ... (In British English, this meaning is spelt dependant.)
  • (grammar) An element in phrase or clause structure that is not the head. Includes complements, modifiers and determiners.
  • (grammar) The aorist subjunctive or subjunctive perfective: a form of a verb not used independently but preceded by a particle to form the negative or a tense form. Found in Greek and in the Gaelic languages.
  • Synonyms

    * dependant

    independent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free
  • (politics) not affiliated with any political party
  • Providing a comfortable livelihood.
  • an independent property
  • Not subject to bias or influence; self-directing.
  • a man of an independent mind
  • Separate from; exclusive; irrespective.
  • * R. P. Ward
  • That obligation in general, under which we conceive ourselves bound to obey a law, independent of those resources which the law provides for its own enforcement.

    Synonyms

    * autonomous * free * selfstanding

    Antonyms

    * contingent * dependent

    Derived terms

    * independency * independent contractor * independent film * * independently * independent means

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A candidate or voter not affiliated with any political party, a free thinker, free of a party platform.
  • A neutral or uncommitted person.
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