Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - rely

(relies, relying, relied) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you rely on someone or something, you need them and depend on them in order to live or work properly. They relied heavily on the advice of their professional advisers... VERB: V on/upon n 2. If you can rely on someone to work well or to behave as you want them to, you can trust them to do this. I know I can rely on you to sort it out... The Red Cross are relying on us. VERB: V on/upon n to-inf, V on/upon n