dependent

comparative more dependent · superlative most dependent · alternative obsolete dependant

1. Relying upon; depending upon.

   At that point I was dependent on financial aid for my tuition.

   1 more example

   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.

   2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19

2. mathematicsHaving a probability that is affected by the outcome of a separate event.

   Within the GMM framework, the distribution of returns conditional on the market return can be both serially dependent and conditionally heteroscedastic.

   2005, Alejandro Balbás, Rosario Romera, Esther Ruiz, Recent Advances in Applied Probability, Springer, page 49

   2 more examples

   The formula for finding the probability of one event followed by a dependent event is written P(A, B) = P(A) × P(B/A) where P(B/A) is read “the probability of B given A.”

   1994, Kathryn Stout, Maximum Math, page 217

   Is it possible to find events A, B of Ω so that A and B are independent? The answer to this simple and interesting problem is no. A probability space (Ω,Σ,P) is called a “dependent probability space” if there are no nontrivial independent events in Ω, (Ω,Σ,P) is called an independent space otherwise.

   2006, M.M. Rao, Randall J. Swift, Probability Theory with Applications (Second Edition), Springer, page 87

3. Used after a particle (with one or two exceptions), such as those which express questions, subordinate clauses, and negative sentences.
4. medicineOf part of the body: positioned lower than the heart, like the legs while standing up, or the back while supine.

   The limbs should not assume a dependent position and may be supported; for example, the upper arm and leg may be flexed and supported on pillows[…]

   2009, Gabby Koutoukidis, Rita Funnell, Karen Lawrence, Jodie Hughson, Kate Stainton, Tabbner's Nursing Care: Theory and Practice, Elsevier Australia, →ISBN, page 406

   1 more example

   Several groups have shown that the gravitational distribution of pleural pressure is much more uniform when animals are in a prone rather than in a supine position, […] After volume-infusion-induced pulmonary oedema, Ppl was positive in the dependent lung regions in supine animals but much less positive in those in the prone position.

   2008 February 17, Umberto Lucangelo, Paolo Pelosi, Walter A. Zin, Andrea Aliverti, Respiratory System and Artificial Ventilation, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 198

5. Hanging down.

   a dependent bough or leaf

plural dependents · alternative Commonwealth UK dependant

1. USA person who relies on another for support or sustenance, particularly financial support.

   With two children and an ailing mother, she had three dependents in all.

2. USgrammarAn element in phrase or clause structure that is not the head. Includes complements, modifiers and determiners.
3. USgrammarThe 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.
4. UShuman sciencesdependent (origination), in Buddhism, the idea that the existence of everything is conditional and dependent on a cause, and that nothing happens fortuitously or by chance.