it depends

phrase

variants or that depends

informal

—used in speech to say that the answer to a question will be different in different situations

"Do you think you'll go back to college?" "It all depends. I will if I can afford it."

"Which team do you think will win?" "That depends. If all of our players are healthy, I think we'll win."

—sometimes shortened to depends

"How long does it take to get to the airport?" "Depends. If you're going during rush hour it'll take at least an hour."

Examples of it depends in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For mammals, surviving it depends on a delicate coordination between the brain and the body’s heat response systems, especially brown adipose tissue, a specialized fat that burns energy to generate heat. — William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for it depends

• apprehends
• comprehends
• condescends
• dividends
• recommends
• amends
• appends
• ascends
• attends
• befriends
• boyfriends
• commends