/ dɪˈpend; NAmE / verb
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IDIOMS
- depending on
- that depends | it (all) depends
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PHRASAL VERBS
- depend on / upon sb/sth
- depend on / upon sb/sth (for sth)
- depend on / upon sth
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GRAMMAR
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 .
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English originally meaning to hang down; also in the sense wait or be in suspense ): from Old French dependre , from Latin dependere , from de- down + pendere hang.