1. Free from external control and constraint
   "fiercely independent individualism"; "an independent mind"; "a series of independent judgments"
    
2. (of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces
   "an independent judiciary";
   - autonomous, self-governing, sovereign
    
3. Not controlled by a party or interest group
   "The independent candidate ran without backing from major political parties"
    
4. (of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence
   "the independent clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb";
   - main
    
5. Not connected or affected by each other
   "a set of independent events"

1. A neutral or uncommitted person (especially in politics)
   "As an independent, he refused to align with either party in the debate";
   - mugwump [N. Amer], fencesitter
    
2. A writer or artist who sells services to different employers without a long-term contract with any of them
   "The magazine hired an independent to write the cover story";
   - freelancer, freelance, self-employed person

Derived forms: independents

See also: autarkic, autarkical, autonomous, breakaway, commutative, fissiparous, free, free-living, independence, independency, indie, nonparasitic, nonpartisan, nonpartizan [rare], nonsymbiotic, self-directed, self-reliant, self-sufficient, self-sufficing, self-supporting, self-sustaining, separate, separatist, single-handed, strong-minded, unaffiliated, unconditional

Type of: individualist, worker

Antonym: dependent

Encyclopedia: Independent, identically distributed