rely

English

Etymology

From Middle English relien, from Old French relier (“fasten, attach, rally, oblige”), from Latin religo (“fasten, bind fast”), from re- + ligo.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈlaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

rely (third-person singular simple present relies, present participle relying, simple past and past participle relied)

1. (with on or upon, formerly also with in) to trust; to have confidence in; to depend.
   • 1993, Flying, volume 120, page 73:

     I relied on "George" and "Fred"—the autopilot and the flight director—to fly the airplane while I worked my way through […]

   • 2004, Stephen Walther, ASP.NET unleashed:

     Cookieless sessions enable you to take advantage of session state without relying on browser cookies.

   • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel, Huerta Memorial Hospital, Visiting Ashley:

     Shepard: You can't rely on anyone. Sounds harsh, but it's true.
     Shepard: It comes down to doing what you think is right--and damn everyone else.

   • 2012 May 26, Phil McNulty, “Norway 0-1 England”, in BBC Sport:

     Hodgson also has Wayne Rooney to call on once he has served a two-match suspension at the start of the tournament - and it is abundantly clear England will rely as heavily as ever on his ability to shape the outcome of important games.

   • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):

     A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:rely.

Derived terms

• reliable
• reliance
• reliant
• rely on
• rely upon

Translations

rest with confidence

• Arabic: اِعْتَمَدَ (iʕtamada) (على)
• Azerbaijani: bel bağlamaq, güvənmək (az), arxalanmaq
• Bashkir: ышаныу (ışanıw)
• Bulgarian: разчи́там (bg) impf (razčítam), осланям се (oslanjam se)
• Cebuano: salig
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 依賴 / 依赖 (zh) (yīlài), 依靠 (zh) (yīkào)

• Czech: spoléhat
• Dutch: rekenen op
• Finnish: luottaa (fi)
• French: compter sur (fr)
• German: sich verlassen (auf)
• Hungarian: bízik (hu), megbízik (hu), épít (hu), számít (hu), hagyatkozik (hu)
• Irish: bí ag brath ar, cuir muinín i, muinín a bheith agat as
• Italian: fare affidamento, basarsi
• Japanese: 頼る (ja) (たよる, tayoru), あてにする (ate-ni suru), 頼む (ja) (たのむ, tanomu)
• Korean: 의지(依支)하다 (ko) (uijihada)
• Manchu: ᠠᡴᡩᠠᠮᠪᡳ (akdambi)
• Maori: whakamanawa, whirinaki, whakawhirinaki
• Norwegian: lite på
• Polish: polegać na, polegać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: contar com
• Russian: полага́ться (ru) impf (polagátʹsja), положи́ться (на) pf (položítʹsja (na)), рассчи́тывать (ru) impf (rassčítyvatʹ)
• Slovak: spoliehať sa, opierať sa
• Spanish: contar con, atenerse (es)
• Swedish: lita på (sv)
• Ukrainian: поклада́тися (pokladátysja), розрахо́вувати (rozraxóvuvaty)
• Vietnamese: tin cậy (vi) (信𢚁), dựa vào (預𠓨)

Anagrams

• Ryle, lyre