independent

1 :  not dependent: such asa (1) :  not subject to control by others :  self-governing (2) :  not affiliated with a larger controlling unit an independent bookstoreb (1) :  not requiring or relying on something else :  not contingent an independent conclusion (2) :  not looking to others for one's opinions or for guidance in conduct (3) :  not bound by or committed to a political partyc (1) :  not requiring or relying on others (as for care or livelihood) independent of her parents (2) :  being enough to free one from the necessity of working for a living a person of independent meansd :  showing a desire for freedom an independent mannere (1) :  not determined by or capable of being deduced or derived from or expressed in terms of members (such as axioms or equations) of the set under consideration; especially :  having linear independence an independent set of vectors (2) :  having the property that the joint probability (as of events or samples) or the joint probability density function (as of random variables) equals the product of the probabilities or probability density functions of separate occurrence

2 capitalized :  of or relating to the Independents

3a :  main 5 an independent clauseb :  neither deducible from nor incompatible with another statement independent postulates