depend

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English Vietnamese dictionary

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Advanced English dictionary

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+ verb
Idioms: that depends
it (all) depends used to say that you are not certain about sth because other things have to be considered: 'Is he coming?' 'That depends. He may not have the time.' + I don't know if we can help-it all depends. + I might not go. It depends how tired I am. + 'Your job sounds fun.' 'It depends what you mean by 'fun'.' + I shouldn't be too late. But it depends if the traffic's bad.
Phrasal Verbs: depend on / upon sb/sth
1 to rely on sb/sth and be able to trust them: He was the sort of person you could depend on. + [+ to inf] He knew he could depend upon her to deal with the situation.
2 to be sure or expect that sth will happen: Depend upon it (= you can be sure) we won't give up. + [+ -ing] Can we depend on you coming in on Sunday? + (formal) You can depend on his coming in on Sunday. [+ to inf] (ironic) You can depend on her to be (= she always is) late.
depend on / upon sb/sth (for sth) (not usually used in the progressive tenses) to need money, help, etc. from sb/sth else for a particular purpose: The community depends on the shipping industry for its survival. + I don't want to depend too much on my parents.
depend on / upon sth (not used in the progressive tenses) to be affected or decided by sth: Does the quality of teaching depend on class size? + It would depend on the circumstances. + [+ wh-] We might need more food depending on how many people turn up.
GRAMMAR POINT
depend on
In informal English, it is quite common to say depend rather than depend on before words like what, how or whether: It depends what you mean by 'hostile'. In formal written English, depend should always be followed by on or upon:
It depends on how you define the term 'hostile'. Upon is more formal and less frequent than on.

Thesaurus dictionary

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v.

1 depend (on or upon). be contingent or dependent or conditional on, turn on, hinge on, pivot on, hang on, be subject to, rest on, be influenced or determined or conditioned by:

The plans for our picnic depend on the weather.

2 depend on or upon. trust (in), rely on, count on, reckon on, bank on, be sure of, put one's faith or trust in:

I knew we could depend on you, Giles, to do the right thing.

Collocation dictionary

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¹ be affected by sth

ADV.

crucially, greatly, very much

The future of the company will depend crucially on how consumers respond.

| entirely, solely | largely, mainly | partly, rather, to some extent | ultimately

Whether or not we can go ultimately depends on the weather.

VERB + DEPEND

seem to

The outcome seems to depend on the type of soil used.

² need

ADV.

heavily | entirely, solely

PREP.

for

She depends entirely on her parents for money.

Concise English dictionary

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depends|depended|dependingdɪ'pend
verb
+be contingent upon (something that is elided)
+have faith or confidence in