Meaning & use
rely on
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Meanings
verbphrasal verb
To depend on someone or something for help, support or a result, because you trust them to provide it.
Grammar: Always followed by an object: rely on your friends. The preposition on cannot be dropped.
Patterns
- rely on someone
- rely on something
- rely on someone to do something
You can rely on me to finish the report by Friday.
Many villages rely on rainwater for drinking.
She relies on her sister for advice.
verbphrasal verb
To be sure that something will happen or that someone will act in a certain way.
Grammar: Often followed by an -ing form or a clause: you can rely on him arriving early.
Patterns
- rely on someone doing something
- rely on it that something happens
You can rely on the bus being late when it rains.
We cannot rely on the weather staying fine all week.
She relied on him keeping the secret.
Word forms
| third person singular | relies on |
|---|---|
| past tense | relied on |
| past participle | relied on |
| -ing form | relying on |
Common combinations
- rely heavily on
- The town relies heavily on tourism.
- rely entirely on
- The old man relies entirely on his neighbors for shopping.
- can rely on
- You can rely on her to be honest.
- rely on luck
- A good plan should not rely on luck.
- rely on someone for something
- Children rely on their parents for food and shelter.
- rely on information
- Journalists rely on information from many sources.
Synonyms and how they differ
- depend on
- Depend on is almost identical and slightly more common in speech, but it can also mean that one thing is determined by another.
- count on
- Count on is more casual and stresses expecting someone to come through for you.
- lean on
- Lean on suggests seeking emotional or practical support, and may sound a little needy.
- trust
- Trust focuses on having confidence in someone's honesty or ability, while rely on stresses depending on them.
Opposites
Word family
- reliance noun
- dependence on someone or something
- reliable adjective
- able to be trusted to do what is expected
- reliably adverb
- in a dependable way
- reliability noun
- the quality of being dependable
- reliant adjective
- depending on something, as in self-reliant
Commonly confused: rely on or depend? rely on or reply?
rely on vs depend
Depend is followed by on too, but it also appears in it depends, meaning the answer varies. Rely on cannot be used that way.
rely on vs reply
Reply sounds close but means to answer someone, and it takes to, not on.
Practice
You can ___ Maria to arrive on time; she has never been late.
Choose one answer.
Rely always takes the preposition on. The other prepositions are not used with rely in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rely on”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.