dependency.

1. A relationship in which a person, process, or system relies on another for support or operation.

2. A territory governed or controlled by another state rather than fully sovereign.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• emotional dependency
• software dependency

On the page

The new design removed a costly dependency on a single supplier.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular dependency; plural dependencies. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.