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Webster 1913 Edition


Dependency

De-pend′en-cy

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Dependencies
.
1.
State of being dependent; dependence; state of being subordinate; subordination; concatenation; connection; reliance; trust.
Any long series of action, the parts of which have very much
dependency
each on the other.
Sir J. Reynolds.
So that they may acknowledge their
dependency
on the crown of England.
Bacon.
2.
A thing hanging down; a dependence.
3.
That which is attached to something else as its consequence, subordinate, satellite, and the like.
This earth and its
dependencies
.
T. Burnet.
Modes I call such complex ideas which . . . are considered as
dependencies
on or affections of substances.
Locke.
4.
A territory remote from the kingdom or state to which it belongs, but subject to its dominion; a colony;
as, Great Britain has its
dependencies
in Asia, Africa, and America
.
Dependence is more used in the abstract, and dependency in the concrete. The latter is usually restricted in meaning to 3 and 4.

Definition 2024


dependency

dependency

English

Noun

dependency (plural dependencies)

  1. A state of dependence; a refusal to exercise initiative.
    Frank's sullen dependency was driving his father nuts.
  2. Something dependent on, or subordinate to, something else:
    In the United States' governmental structure, the military is conceived as a dependency under the executive branch.
  3. A colony, or a territory subject to rule by an external power.
  4. A dependence on a habit-forming substance such as a drug or alcohol; addiction.
  5. (computing) Reliance on the functionality provided by some other, external component.
    This library has dependencies on a lot of other libraries. We have to compile all of those other libraries first.
  6. (computing) An external component whose functionality is relied on.
    One of this library's dependencies is very finicky. It can be hard to get it compile on some systems.

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