1
as in anchor
something or someone to which one looks for support he's been the family's foremost reliance in times of trouble many times

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in dependency
the quality or state of needing something or someone a baby's reliance on her parents his reliance on his next-door neighbor for all the local gossip

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of reliance There is little doubt the 49ers, who balanced their run game with more gap scheme style runs as opposed to their heavy reliance on outside zone, got in their best groove of the season. Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2025 Megan Anderson, senior campaign representative at the Sierra Club, criticized AES' reliance on natural gas plants to power data centers instead of renewable options like wind or solar. Alysa Guffey, IndyStar, 23 Oct. 2025 The donations present the latest window into Osborn’s reliance on financial support from Democrats, a similar pattern that emerged in his 2024 campaign. Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 21 Oct. 2025 So there’s a big reliance on social media to be able to get the message out. Miles Socha, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for reliance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reliance
Noun
  • The co-anchor recalls getting one important word wrong.
    Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Over his long and illustrious career as a CBS news correspondent and anchor, Bob Schieffer won awards and earned acclaim as one of the finest journalists in America.
    Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Guy is their newest inductee, a 20something with an iffy American accent (Denton is Australian), a worrying clonazepam dependency, a fancy NYU law degree and — of most interest to the Talamasca — a rare ability to read minds.
    Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 24 Oct. 2025
  • South Africa, on the other hand, announced a plan to reduce its dependency on coal from 58% of its energy mix now to 29% by 2039, in particular planning to boost spending on nuclear power.
    Ben Smith, semafor.com, 24 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • These Midwestern states have smaller federal workforces and less dependence on federal contracts.
    Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 18 Oct. 2025
  • To help players become resilient problem solvers, with increasingly less dependence on you, the coach.
    Joe Boylan, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Peychaud’s Bitters, all cherry and anise as opposed to Angostura Bitters’ cinnamon and clove, combines with the herbal pop of absinthe and the spicy backbone of the rye to create something wholly new.
    Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 25 Oct. 2025
  • The administration has moved to eliminate federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—the very backbone of our nation’s cultural infrastructure.
    Andrew Weinstein, Time, 24 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • OpenAI unveiled a web browser on Tuesday in a bid to make its ChatGPT AI product the starting point for online access and establish itself as central pillar of the internet economy.
    Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Removing the roof required a fair amount of engineering to ensure torsional rigidity, including strengthening the door sills, A-pillars, and adding cross-body braces.
    Sean Evans, Robb Report, 21 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • While Vidalia’s executives had a grand vision for their Louisiana mill, the operation often leaned on Mount Vernon as a crutch.
    Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Game night flies by in a montage — the crutch of comedies that can’t sustain conversations and jokes at the same time (or, to be fair, feel crunched for time).
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 23 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Reliance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reliance. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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