-dənsē, -si noun
Etymology: independent + -cy
1. : independence 1
2. usually capitalized
a. : a religious movement originated in England by Robert Browne (1550?-?1633) who taught that a church consists of a body of believers bound by a covenant to God and each other and that it is independent of any higher ecclesiastical authority
b. : congregationalism 2
3. archaic : competence 2
4. : an independent political state (as a country, a nation)