In database theory, a multivalued dependency is a full constraint between two sets of attributes in a relation.
In contrast to the functional dependency, the multivalued dependency requires that certain tuples be present in a relation. Therefore, a multivalued dependency is a special case of tuple-generating dependency. The multivalued dependency plays a role in the 4NF database normalization.
A multivalued dependency is a special case of a join dependency, with only two sets of values involved, i.e. it is a binary join dependency.
A multivalued dependency exists when there are at least three attributes (like X,Y and Z) in a relation and for a value of X there is a well defined set of values of Y and a well defined set of values of Z. However, the set of values of Y is independent of set Z and vice versa.