interdependence

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noun

The condition of being interdependent.

Less commonScrabble 21

Meanings

nouninterdependence (countable and uncountable, plural interdependences)

plural interdependences

  1. countableuncountableThe condition of being interdependent.

    Europe’s cherished conviction that economic interdependence is the best guarantee for peace has turned out to be wrong.

    2022 February 27, Ivan Krastev, “We Are All Living in Vladimir Putin’s World Now”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    5 more examples

    The transmission oil is cooled in a heat exchanger through which the cooling water is circulated, to assist rapid warming of the engine system and to bring engine and transmission into their true interdependence.

    1960 June, “The N.B. Loco. Co. diesel-hydraulic Type "2" locomotive”, in Trains Illustrated, page 345

    But today, as electricity creates conditions of extreme interdependence on a global scale, we move swiftly again into an auditory world of simultaneous events and over-all awareness.

    1962, Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, University of Toronto Press, →OCLC, pages 28–29

    For those concerned that the interdependence of power and water could lead to higher costs and greater scarcity of both, two energy developments in the last five years offer both good news and bad.

    2015 April 22, Felicity Barringer, “Troubling Interdependency of Water and Power”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

    It's less a vision for the wholesale migration of humanity to a new state of being than a quest to transcend all that is human: the body, interdependence, compassion, vulnerability and complexity.

    2019, Douglas Rushkoff, “Survival of the Richest”, in Extinction Rebellion, editor, This Is Not A Drill, London: Penguin, →ISBN

    The European Economic Community was founded on the principle after the second world war that economic trade and interdependence was the best recipe for peace between France and Germany first, and then between Europe and the rest of the world. Overnight all this became obsolete.

    2023 September 30, Patrick Wintour, quoting Nicole Gnesotto, “‘No turning back’: how the Ukraine war has profoundly changed the EU”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁n̥tér
  3. Proto-Italic*n̥ter
  4. Latininter
  5. Latininter-
  6. Englishinter-
  7. Englishdependence
  8. Englishinterdependence

From inter- + dependence.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian взаимна зависимост
  • взаимна зависимост (vzaimna zavisimost)being interdependent
Danish interdependens
  • interdependensbeing interdependent
Dutch onderlinge afhankelijkheid, interdependentie
  • onderlinge afhankelijkheidbeing interdependent
  • interdependentiebeing interdependent
Finnish keskinäinen riippuvuus
  • keskinäinen riippuvuusbeing interdependent
French interdépendance
  • interdépendancebeing interdependent
German Interdependenz
  • Interdependenzbeing interdependent
Greek αλληλεξάρτηση
  • αλληλεξάρτηση (allilexártisi)being interdependent
Hungarian függőség
  • függőségbeing interdependent
Lithuanian abipusė priklausomybė
  • abipusė priklausomybėbeing interdependent
Polish współzależność, wzajemna zależność
  • współzależnośćbeing interdependent
  • wzajemna zależnośćbeing interdependent
Russian взаимозави́симость
  • взаимозави́симость (vzaimozavísimostʹ)being interdependent
Scottish Gaelic eadar-eisimealachd
  • eadar-eisimealachdbeing interdependent
Spanish interdependencia
  • interdependenciabeing interdependent
Tagalog saligan
  • saliganbeing interdependent
Ukrainian взаємозале́жність
  • взаємозале́жність (vzajemozaléžnistʹ)being interdependent
Cite this entry
APA

interdependence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interdependence

MLA

“interdependence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interdependence. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “interdependence,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interdependence.

Source: interdependence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.