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• independent
  independent

  adjective

  not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself.
• Independent
  Independent

  noun

  (in England) a member of the Congregational Church

independent

American  

[in-di-pen-duhnt] / ˌɪn dɪˈpɛn dənt /

adjective

1. not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself.

   an independent thinker.

2. not subject to another's authority or jurisdiction; autonomous; free.

   an independent businessman.

3. not influenced by the thought or action of others.

   independent research.

4. not dependent; not depending or contingent upon something else for existence, operation, etc.

5. not relying on another or others for aid or support.

6. rejecting others' aid or support; refusing to be under obligation to others.

7. possessing a competency.

   to be financially independent.

8. sufficient to support a person without their having to work.

   an independent income.

9. executed or originating outside a given unit, agency, business, etc.; external.

   an independent inquiry.

10. working for oneself or for a small, privately owned business.

11. expressive of a spirit of independence; self-confident; unconstrained.

    a free and independent citizen.

12. free from party commitments in voting.

    the independent voter.

13. Mathematics. (of a quantity or function) not depending upon another for its value.

14. Grammar. capable of standing syntactically as a complete sentence.

    an independent clause.

15. Logic.

    1. (of a set of propositions) having no one proposition deducible from the others.

    2. (of a proposition) belonging to such a set.

16. Statistics. statistically independent.

17. (initial capital letter) adhering or relating to Independency.

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noun

• independents
  plural

1. an independent person or thing.

2. a small, privately owned business.

   The conglomerates are buying up the independents.

3. Politics. a person who votes for candidates, measures, etc., in accordance with their own judgment and without regard to the endorsement of, or the positions taken by, any party.

4. (initial capital letter) an adherent of Independency.

5. British. a Congregationalist.

idioms

1. independent of, irrespective of; regardless of.

   Independent of monetary considerations, it was a promising position.

independent ¹ British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈpɛndənt /

adjective

1. free from control in action, judgment, etc; autonomous

2. not dependent on anything else for function, validity, etc; separate

   two independent units make up this sofa

3. not reliant on the support, esp financial support, of others

4. capable of acting for oneself or on one's own

   a very independent little girl

5. providing a large unearned sum towards one's support (esp in the phrases independent income, independent means )

6. living on an unearned income

7. maths (of a system of equations) not linearly dependent See also independent variable

8. statistics

   1. (of two or more variables) distributed so that the value taken by one variable will have no effect on that taken by another or others

   2. (of two or more events) such that the probability of all occurring equals the product of their individual probabilities Compare statistical dependence

9. logic

   1. not validly derivable from one another, so that if the propositions are the axioms of some theory none can be dispensed with

   2. not logically related, so that in no case can the truth value of one be inferred from those of the others

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noun

1. an independent person or thing

2. a person who is not affiliated to or who acts independently of a political party

Independent ² British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈpɛndənt /

noun

1. (in England) a member of the Congregational Church

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adjective

1. of or relating to Independency

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonindependent
  adjective
• preindependent
  adjective
• pseudoindependent
  adjective
• quasi-independent
  adjective
• superindependent
  adjective
• independently
  adverb
• nonindependently
  adverb
• preindependently
  adverb
• pseudoindependently
  adverb
• quasi-independently
  adverb
• superindependently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• independents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of independent

First recorded in 1605–15; in- ³ + dependent

Explanation

If your brother says you broke his guitar and you say you weren't anywhere near it, your parents may ask your sister for an independent opinion, as she has no reason to lie. An independent person is free from the control or influence of other people. The root word, depend, originally meant "to hang down." We use the word hang in a similar way. If the decision to build a new stadium hangs on funding, the decision won't be made till the money comes in. To be independent means that you don't depend on your parents to pay your bills. Or, for a three year old, it may mean going to the bathroom "all by yourself." It's all relative.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

independent Independent independents

On Thursday, an independent arbitrator ordered the newspaper to reinstate Attiah and restore her wages and benefits after she was fired in September for a social media post following the Turning Point USA co-founder’s death.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Forbes said it is working with outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the incident.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The Scottish National Investment Bank, which is independent from government, was set up by ministers in 2020 with a mission to fund business and innovation to boost economic growth.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

By Rachel Cusk Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 192 pages, $27 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Negotiations to end the war gave birth to an independent nation: the United States of America.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The Independent also asks who will pay for security after the "royal return".

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Independent astronomers first determined the rocket's trajectory using information that was publicly available.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Independent estimates vary but range between 100 million and 130 million, or between 7% and 9% of the population.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

He noted that there is “not one electron” of always-on power, sometimes referred to as baseload, in the California Independent System Operator’s interconnection queue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

That's when we discover who really rules Carver Independent School—one burly P.E. teacher and one elderly drama teacher.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

A March 2026 poll found 77% of all voters support raising taxes on billionaires, including 65% of Republicans, 75% of independents, and 91% of Democrats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

“I think many of them will end up voting for him, independents as well, of course.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

The list contains 20 independents and a number of joke candidates, including three from the Monster Raving Loony party, with none from the main Westminster parties.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

But any nominee will have to unite Platner's wounded supporters with moderates, independents and women voters wary of a party that just watched its chosen candidate implode.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

“Every hotel concierge knows who to call if some guest wants tickets. All I’m sayin’ is, it’s not as easy as you think for a couple of independents.

From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar

Related Words

• autonomous
• nonpartisan
• self-reliant
• self-sufficient
• separate
• sovereign