De-pēnd'en-cy, n.
n. 1. State of being dependent; dependence; suspension; subordination; concatenation; reliance; trust.
Any long series of action, the parts of which have very much dependency each on the other. Sir J. Reynolds.
Sense 2. A thing hanging down or depending; a dependence.
Sense 3. That which is attached to something else as its consequence, subordinate, satellite, and the like. “This earth and its dependencies.” Burnet.
Modes I call such complex ideas which . . . are considered as dependencies on or affections of substances. Locke.
Sense 4. A territory remote from the kingdom or state to which it belongs, but subject to its dominion; a colony; as, Great Britain has its dependencies in Asia, Africa, and America.
☞ Dependence is more used in the abstract, and dependency in the concrete.