verb · neutral
rely
/rɪˈlaɪ/re·LY
Band 7+speakingtask2
To depend on with full trust or confidence; to depend for support or help
Examples
“Many rural households rely on agriculture for their income.”
“You can't rely on memory alone for accurate data.”
“In Speaking, you can say 'I rely on public transport to get to school.'”
Band 8 sentence
“Low-income communities often rely heavily on informal economies, which makes them vulnerable to policy changes.”
Collocations
- rely on someone/something
- rely heavily on
- cannot rely on
Word family
rely on phrasal verbreliable adjectivereliability noun
Common mistakes
rely to public transport→rely on public transport
I rely my parents→I rely on my parents
Say it for a higher band
5depend→6count on→7+rely
Synonyms
depend on
count on
Easily confused
depend on
“Many small firms depend on seasonal workers to meet demand.”
Related words
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In Sublist 4
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