A dependency in Maven is a required external library the project depends upon to build and run correctly.
A dependency in Maven is a required external library the project depends upon to build and run correctly. In Maven, dependencies are declared via GAV coordinates (Group id, Artifact id, Version), they could also optionally have a scope, a classifier, a type.
An example of dependency:
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>4.11</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
Check the official Maven quick-start guide on how to use external dependencies for a first look at it.
