Word.ws English Dictionary

depends

/dɪˈpɛndz/

depends is the third-person singular simple present indicative of depend.

Meaning of depend

Verb

depend (third-person singular simple present depends, present participle depending, simple past and past participle depended)

  1. (intransitive) To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
    • We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.
    Synonyms:
    hinge on, ride, pivot
  2. (intransitive) To trust; to have confidence; to rely.
    • we should all be able to depend on the word or assurance of our friends
  3. (literary) To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge, decoration, or element is suspended from another part of an achievement of arms.
    • The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows.1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
  4. (archaic) To be pending; to be undetermined or undecided.
    • a cause depending in court
  5. (transitive) To cause to be contingent or dependent on; to set as a necessity.
    • There he wilted, obviously depending the disposal of his person and his plight on Bradly, and expecting that to be done at once, too.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65

Interjection

  1. Apheretic form of it depends; used to indicate more information is known but a simple answer cannot be given

Phrases with depends

Questions about depends

What does depends mean?
Depends means apheretic form of it depends; used to indicate more information is known but a simple answer cannot be given.
What is depends the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Depends is the third-person singular simple present indicative of depend.
What part of speech is depends?
Depends is an interjection.
How do you pronounce depends?
Depends is pronounced /dɪˈpɛndz/.

Words near depends in the dictionary

  1. dependingly
  2. dependoparvovirus
  3. dependoparvoviruses
  4. dependovirus
  5. dependoviruses
  6. depends
  7. depends who's asking
  8. depenetration
  9. depenis
  10. depensation
  11. depensatory

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: depends (page history and authors); depend (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-depends.ogg.

Cite this entry: “depends.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/depends. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.