Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - independent

 I. adjective  Date: 1611  1. not dependent: as  a.  (1) not subject to control by others ; self-governing  (2) not affiliated with a larger controlling unit an ~ bookstore  b.  (1) not requiring or relying on something else ; not contingent an ~ conclusion  (2) not looking to others for one's opinions or for guidance in conduct  (3) not bound by or committed to a political party  c.  (1) not requiring or relying on others (as for care or livelihood) ~ of her parents  (2) being enough to free one from the necessity of working for a living a person of ~ means  d. showing a desire for freedom an ~ manner  e.  (1) not determined by or capable of being deduced or derived from or expressed in terms of members (as axioms or equations) of the set under consideration; especially having linear independence an ~ set of vectors  (2) having the property that the joint probability (as of events or samples) or the joint probability density function (as of random variables) equals the product of the probabilities or probability density functions of separate occurrence  2. capitalized of or relating to the Independents  3.  a. main 5 an ~ clause  b. neither deducible from nor incompatible with another statement ~ postulates  Synonyms: see free  • ~ly adverb  II. noun  Date: 1644  1. capitalized a sectarian of an English religious movement for congregational autonomy originating in the late 16th century, giving rise to Congregationalists, Baptists, and Friends, and forming one of the major political groupings of the period of Cromwell  2. one that is ~; especially often capitalized one that is not bound by or definitively committed to a political party