Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use depend in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Depend means to be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition. Example: “We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.”

Examples of depend by meaning

verbTo 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.
  • It all depends on whether or not the guy who finds it is the right guy.1948, John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, spoken by Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart)
  • There's not much room for error in the unforgiving Arctic wilderness, where hunters' lives depend on skill, experience, and a buddy's helping hand.1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 18

verbTo trust; to have confidence; to rely.

  • we should all be able to depend on the word or assurance of our friends
  • we depend on the mailman to come at the usual time.
  • "It's another wedding present, you may depend," Dicky said—"a beastly surprise, I shouldn't wonder."1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC

verbTo hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge...

  • Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low, slightly vaulted ceiling, and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls without windows, representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in medieval costumes.1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
  • He had prepared a sort of collar of leather with many straps depending from it.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
  • Besides, if you worked up to be a cadet officer, you got to wear a Sam Browne belt, from which depended a nifty saber.1982, Paul Fussell, My War

verbTo be pending; to be undetermined or undecided.

  • a cause depending in court

verbTo 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

More sentences with depend

  • We assign each item inspected a rating from A through G, depending on various factors.From the entry a
  • What's the English for 'à peu près'? It depends: how is it being used?From the entry english
  • Hawaiian has either five or twenty-five vowels, depending on how they are counted.From the entry vowel
  • Spanish verb forms have different endings depending on the tense, mood and person.From the entry ending
  • We pay an hourly rate of between $10 – $15 per hour depending on qualifications and experience.From the entry rate
  • Viruses depend on the host that they infect in order to be able to reproduce.From the entry host
  • I'll help you out this time, depending on what can you give me in exchange.From the entry exchange
  • The price on the futures market depends in part on the price on the spot market.From the entry spot market
  • The idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes of individuals.From the entry positive
  • The ball will move differently depending on the grip used when throwing it.From the entry grip
  • The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.From the entry impulse
  • There used to be a lot of industry around here, but now the economy depends on tourism.From the entry industry
  • Depending on what you print, one color usually depletes faster than the others.From the entry deplete
  • Depending on the case, extermination of a group of people may constitute genocide or crime against humanity.From the entry extermination
  • Workers in the American service industry usually depend on tips to even make minimum wage.From the entry tip
  • Many old people depend on their pension to pay the bills.From the entry pension
  • The parasitic tyranny's infrastructure depends on secrecy in order to be effective.From the entry infrastructure
  • Seminarians are usually divided into philosophers and theologians, depending on their stage of formation.From the entry theologian
  • As public funding is reduced, we depend increasingly on private philanthropy.From the entry philanthropy
  • The answer depends on which state he was domiciled in at his death.From the entry domicile
  • On conformal map projections, the scale depends on location only and not direction.From the entry conformal
  • It'll depend on the state of my finances at the end of the month.From the entry finances
  • All modern camels are humpbacked creatures, but the number of humps depends on the species.From the entry humpbacked
  • His unstructured method of planning scared anyone who had to depend on his schedules.From the entry unstructured
  • The executability of the file would depend on compatibility with the updated hardware.From the entry executability
  • The executability of his command would depend upon the remaining strength and stamina of the men.From the entry executability
  • In my opinion the whole ball of wax depends on what she'll say.From the entry whole ball of wax
  • The prime numbers are infinite, therefore any proof that depends on their exhaustibility is flawed.From the entry exhaustibility
  • We'll have dinner at seven o'clockish, depending on how soon Keith arrives.From the entry o'clockish

Meaning of depend

  1. verb To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition.
  2. verb To trust; to have confidence; to rely.
  3. verb 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.

Full definition of depend

Questions about depend in a sentence

How do you use depend in a sentence?
Depend is used as a verb. For example: “We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.”
What is a short sentence with depend?
“a cause depending in court”
What does depend mean?
Depend means to be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: depend (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use depend in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/depend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.