Dependence
DEPENDENCE,
DEPENDENCY, noun
1. A state of hanging down from a supporter.
2. Any thing hanging down; a series of things hanging to another.
And made a long dependence from the bough.
3. Concatenation; connection by which one thing is sustained by another, in its place, operations or effects, or is affected by it.
But of this frame the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies.
4. A state of being at the disposal of another; a state of being subject to the will of an intelligent cause, or to the power and operation of any other cause; inability to sustain itself without the aid of.
We ought to feel our dependence on God for life and support. The child should be sensible of his dependence on his parents. In the natural and moral world, we observe the dependence of one thing on another.
5. Reliance; confidence; trust; a resting on; as, we may have a firm dependence on the promises of God.
6. Accident; that of which the existence presupposes the existence of something else; that which pertains to something else; as modes which are considered as dependencies or affections of substances.
7. That which is attached to, but subordinate to something else; as this earth and its dependencies.
8. A territory remote from the kingdom or state to which it belongs, but subject to its dominion; as distant isles or countries. Great Britain has its dependencies, in Asia, Africa and America.