reliance English · revision 39515

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1606, Joseph Hall's Heaven upon Earth|origins=la religō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɹɪˈlaɪ.əns/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|en|rely|-ance]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The verb goes back through Middle English [[m|enm|relien|t=to rally, assemble]] to [[fro|relier|t=to assemble, fasten]], from [[la|religō|t=to bind fast]], from [[m|la|re-]] and [[m|la|ligō|t=to bind]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Trust or confidence in a person or thing, dependence on them: 1606, in Bishop Joseph Hall's ''Heaven upon Earth''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline gives about 1600,^(Etymonline) and Barnhart dates it to 1607, citing Shakespeare's ''Timon of Athens'',^(Barnhart 1988) which Johnson also quoted: "my reliance on his fracted dates".^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun appeared a generation after the verb ''rely'' took on its sense of depending on someone with full trust, in the 1570s.^(Etymonline) It was first construed with ''in'', ''on'' or ''upon'', and ''in'' has since dropped out.^(OED 2026) From 1613 it could also mean the person or thing relied on, a sense the OED now calls rare and the American Heritage Dictionary archaic;^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024) the Shorter Oxford dates this sense only to the late 18th century.^(SOED 2002) Webster (1828) described it as a settled state of mind resting on full belief in a person's truthfulness or in the certainty of a fact.^(Webster 1828) The adjective ''reliant'' followed in 1856.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1600 – the date Etymonline gives.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1606 – trust, dependence, with ''in'', ''on'' or ''upon''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1607 – in Shakespeare's ''Timon of Athens''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1609 – without a construction, the quality of being reliant (now rare).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1613 – a thing relied on.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1856 – the adjective ''reliant''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[dependence|alt=Dependence]] on someone or something: ''the farm's reliance on seasonal workers''.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Trust or [[confidence]] in a person or thing: ''Investors put no reliance on the official figures.''^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # (archaic) A person or thing relied on; a [[mainstay]].^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[misreliance]]

+ * [[nonreliance]]

+ * [[self-reliance]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rely]]

+ * [[reliable]]

+ * [[reliant]]

+ * [[rally]]

+ * [[ligament]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster treat ''reliance'' among the synonyms of [[trust]].^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}