DEPENDENCY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dependency mean? 

• DEPENDENCY (noun)
  The noun DEPENDENCY has 3 senses:

1. the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else

2. being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs)

3. a geographical area politically controlled by a distant country

  Familiarity information: DEPENDENCY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPENDENCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

dependance; dependence; dependency

Hypernyms ("dependency" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dependency"):

helplessness (the state of needing help from something)

reliance (the state of relying on something)

subordination (the state of being subordinate to something)

contingency (the state of being contingent on something)

Derivation:

depend (have faith or confidence in)

dependent (relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

addiction; dependance; dependence; dependency; habituation

Hypernyms ("dependency" is a kind of...):

physical condition; physiological condition; physiological state (the condition or state of the body or bodily functions)

Domain category:

narcotic (a drug that produces numbness or stupor; often taken for pleasure or to reduce pain; extensive use can lead to addiction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dependency"):

drug addiction; white plague (an addiction to a drug (especially a narcotic drug))

Derivation:

dependent (addicted to a drug)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A geographical area politically controlled by a distant country

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

colony; dependency

Hypernyms ("dependency" is a kind of...):

geographic area; geographic region; geographical area; geographical region (a demarcated area of the Earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dependency"):

Crown Colony (a British colony controlled by the British Crown, represented by a governor)

Instance hyponyms:

Cayman Islands (a British colony in the Caribbean to the northwest of Jamaica; an international banking center)

New Netherland (a Dutch colony in North America along the Hudson and lower Delaware rivers although the colony centered in New Amsterdam; annexed by the English in 1664)

Derivation:

dependent (being under the power or sovereignty of another or others)

 Context examples 

A dependency in Southwestern Europe, bordering the Strait of Gibraltar, on the southern coast of Spain.

(Gibraltar, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Hitherto there had been but one opinion of Captain Wentworth among the Musgroves and their dependencies.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The late George Gaylord Simpson, a geoscientist at UA and an influential evolutionary thinker of the last century, proposed that these fluctuating dependencies should determine the speed of evolution.

(Colorful bird feathers offer evolutionary clues, National Science Foundation)

No, sir, not on that ground; but, on the ground that you did forget it, and that you care whether or not a dependent is comfortable in his dependency, I agree heartily.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A dependency in southwestern Europe, on the southern coast of Spain, bordering the Strait of Gibraltar.

(Gibraltar, NCI Thesaurus)

There exist twenty-five territories, including sovereign states, overseas departments and dependencies.

(Caribbean, NCI Thesaurus)

A collective generic term that refers here to a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states.

(CDISC SDTM Country Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A swift messenger had the night before sped round to the outlying dependencies of the Abbey, and had left the summons for every monk to be back in the cloisters by the third hour after noontide.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)