What do you call the opposite of dependent?

Question

Say you have 3 things (eg tasks), A-C. A must be done before B, and B before C. One would say that B is dependent on A, and C is dependent on B.

What if you want to say the opposite, like A is a parent of B? Parent doesn't quite sound right, nor does child. The "true" opposite of dependent is independent, but that means unrelated however A is related to B, because B is dependent on A, so that doesn't fit either.

Thinking about it more, saying "A is a parent to B, and "B is a child to A" makes the most sense, but it feels off.

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. — Community, Feb 01 '23 at 11:11
Independent doesn't necessarily mean unrelated, just not dependent on. — Kate Bunting, Feb 01 '23 at 11:12
See also Contrary meanings of dependency/dependent? and If "X is a dependency of Y" then "Y is a ??? of X", among others. — FumbleFingers, Feb 01 '23 at 11:55

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '23 at 11:51

Antecedent

The strict dictionary definition isn't quite an exact match, but in graph theory (at least withing a computing context), if B was dependent on A you'd say A was an antecedent of B:

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-conductor/2.4.1?topic=instances-service-dependencies

Services can have dependencies on other services. A service that other services depend on is called an antecedent service. If a service depends on the antecedent service, the antecedent service must be running for the dependent service to work properly.

And a dictionary definition for completeness:

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/antecedent

something that happened or existed before something else and is similar to it in some way

What do you call the opposite of dependent?

1 Answers1

Antecedent