Rely

//ɹɪˈlaɪ// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To trust; to have confidence in; to depend. transitive

    "I relied on "George" and "Fred"—the autopilot and the flight director—to fly the airplane while I worked my way through […]"

  2. 2
    have faith or confidence in wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dependawaitbankbankbank onbet

Example

More examples

"I guess my view on friendship is pretty bleak because I've never really had to rely on anyone for anything."

Etymology

From Middle English relien, from Old French relier (“fasten, attach, rally, oblige”), from Latin religo (“fasten, bind fast”), from re- + ligo.

Related phrases

rely onrely upon

More for "rely"

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