independent > define

noun

• A neutral or uncommitted person (especially in politics.
  • synonyms: mugwump, fencesitter
• A writer or artist who sells services to different employers without a long-term contract with any of them.
  • synonyms: freelancer, freelance, free-lance, free lance, self-employed person

adjective

• Free from external control and constraint.
  • usage: "an independent mind"; "a series of independent judgments"; "fiercely independent individualism"
• Of political bodies. ( not controlled by outside forces)
  • usage: "an autonomous judiciary"; "a sovereign state"
  • synonyms: autonomous, self-governing, sovereign
• Of a clause. ( capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence)
  • usage: "the main (or independent) clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb"
  • synonyms: main
• Not controlled by a party or interest group. .

• (a.) Belonging or pertaining to or holding to the doctrines or methods of, the Independents.
• (a.) Not bound by party; exercising a free choice in voting with either or any party.
• (a.) Not dependent upon another quantity in respect to value or rate of variation; -- said of quantities or functions.
• (n.) One who does not acknowledge an obligation to support a party's candidate under all circumstances; one who exercises liberty in voting.
• (a.) Not dependent; free; not subject to control by others; not relying on others; not subordinate; as, few men are wholly independent.
• (a.) Affording a comfortable livelihood; as, an independent property.
• (a.) Expressing or indicating the feeling of independence; free; easy; bold; unconstrained; as, an independent air or manner.
• (n.) One who believes that an organized Christian church is complete in itself, competent to self-government, and independent of all ecclesiastical authority.
• (a.) Not subject to bias or influence; not obsequious; self-directing; as, a man of an independent mind.
• (a.) Separate from; exclusive; irrespective.

Term generally applies to a non-integrated oil or natural gas company, usually active in only one or two sectors of the industry. An' INDEPENDENT' marketer buys petroleum products from major or independent refiners and resells them under his own brand name or buys natural gas from producers and resells it. There are also independents which are active exclusively either in oil or gas production or refining.