Reliance

//ɹɪˈlaɪ.əns// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of relying (on or in someone or something); trust. countable, uncountable

    "Your reliance on his expertise may be misplaced."

  2. 2
    certainty based on past experience wordnet
  3. 3
    The condition of being reliant or dependent. countable, uncountable

    "The industry is working to phase out its reliance on fossil fuels."

  4. 4
    the state of relying on something wordnet
  5. 5
    Anything on which to rely; ground of trust. countable, dated, uncountable

    "The boat was a poor reliance."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A person or thing which relies on another. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
abettoracceptationacceptionacquiescenceadmireradvocate

Example

More examples

"Excessive reliance on monetary policy in an attempt to curb inflation could unnecessarily constrain credit and hence business."

Etymology

From rely + -ance.

Related phrases

engendered relianceover-reliancereliance interestself-reliance

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.