to depend on
819
1.7
- phrasal verb
- /dɪˈpɛnd ɑn/
:
depender de
- I guess it depends on who you ask.
- depends on several factors
- vary depending on
- depending on the circumstances
The sanctity of life depends on who is dying and where.
- The sanctity of life depends on who is dying and where.
- It really does depend on what state you're in.
- Do you think creative Darwinism depends on pain tolerance?
- And they'll be winners and losers depending on which way is chosen.
- The future depends on what we do in the present.
- So I think it just depends on how a story comes to you.
- The meaning of a word depends on its context.
- And so it really depends on the situation at hand.
- And so yeah, it really depends on the state, right?
- So I couldn't actually say it depends on best and worst years.
Examples
-
Each image is two-sided; thus, the imagery changes depending on where a viewer stands.
Academic text (2011) -
Your success in the project will depend on the effort you put into it.
-
Well, that depends on how much you need.
-
The answer is it really depends on what you like the most.
-
So it just depends on the specific card.
-
Well, it depends on what you do, but...
-
The success of communication depends on what is received rather than on what is delivered.
Academic text (2011) -
We're still going to have to depend on our more traditional sources.
-
That depends on what your intentions are.
-
And the future of Omnicorp depends on it.
Synonyms
∞
1.1
To be decided by another thing, for example the weather
791
1.1
To trust someone or something to give you help
700
1.8
To trust a person or thing to do what you need
602
1.0
Trust a person or thing to do what you expect
244
5.3
To depend on something for the result
67
2.3
To be decided by something such as the weather
37
4.2
Need one thing to happen for another thing to be true
33
2.3
Trust someone or something to do what you need
20
4.1
To depend on something
12
4.3
To depend on something for a result
2
5.5
To depend completely on something for the result
Depend on something that decides the result
How Dependent
37
4.2
819
1.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to be determined or influenced by' is directly derived from combining 'depend' (to rely or place confidence in) with the preposition 'on' that marks the thing relied upon or conditioned by. This compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Depend on comes from the idea of one thing resting on another: a result sits on a cause, so if the cause changes the result will change, which is why the phrase means 'be determined by' or 'contingent on'.