rely on/upon

phrasal verb

relied on/upon; relying on/upon; relies on/upon

1

: to need (someone or something) for support, help, etc. : to depend on (someone or something)

My mother relied on me for financial support.

They rely on a well for all their water.

2

: to trust or believe (someone or something)

She's someone you can rely on.

I relied heavily upon your advice.

You could always rely on him to disagree.

3

: to expect (something) with confidence : to be certain that (something) will happen or exist

The economy may improve next year, but it's not something you can rely on.

Examples of rely on/upon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This enables candidates who reject big money and opt to rely on support from the community to run competitive races with those who opt for traditional fundraising. —Joanne Antoine, Baltimore Sun, 17 July 2024

But the two defendants made similar arguments about the funding of special counsels, though Cannon’s decision did not rely on her assessment of the legality of the funding. —Perry Stein, Washington Post, 16 July 2024

One workaround may be to rely on other global navigation satellite systems. —Tribune News Service, Hartford Courant, 15 July 2024

Though half of the nation's dealers rely on CDK systems, the geography of users was not sorted out. —Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 15 July 2024