reliance

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act of relying (on or in someone or something); trust.

   “Your reliance on his expertise may be misplaced.”

   “[…] his days and times are past And my reliances on his fracted [i.e. broken] dates Have smit my credit:”

   “How unfavourable is Chance, said Arabella fretting at the Disappointment, to Persons who have any Reliance upon it!”

   “It was out of his power to support his son at either university; but a wealthy neighbor offered assistance; and, in reliance on promises which proved to be of very little value, Samuel was entered at Pembroke College, Oxford.”

   “I put infinite reliance in your tact.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The condition of being reliant or dependent.

   “The industry is working to phase out its reliance on fossil fuels.”

   “[…] he contended that habitual reliance on engine power causes a pilot to lose his ability to make a forced landing “deadstick” if necessary.”

   “Poverty in Australia has declined, welfare reliance has stabilised and long-term poverty is becoming rare—but overall economic wellbeing is no longer improving […]”

3. (countable, dated, uncountable)Anything on which to rely; ground of trust.

   “The boat was a poor reliance.”

   “Thou wert once the chiefe pillar of my posterity, and the whole reliance of my name:”

   “A horse is counted but a vain thing, […] to save a man. So are Chariots, and Forts, and Armies, and Navies, and all earthly reliances.”

   “Mr. Adams may marry as well as Mr. Williams; and both, I believe, will find God’s Providence a better Reliance, than the richest Benefice in England.”

   “Most ominous of all was the discovery of over six hundred empty cans that had held preserved meat, the main reliance of the expedition.”

4. (countable, uncountable)A person or thing which relies on another.