问题
How are they different? Or are they the same?
回答1:
Repository is a collection of artifacts (eg: jars). You can think of it as a mere storage / cache of various artifacts.
Dependency is a situation where your project dependent on another artifact to perform its task (eg: compile, run, unit test)
On a maven project you typically declare what artifacts you need on the <dependency> section of your pom, and you can also declare what repositories maven should lookup the dependency from at the <repositories> section.
By default maven will lookup the artifacts on the central repository. But it's common for an organization to have an internal repository containing in-house developed artifacts. Hence typically <repositories> section on the pom is configured with this.
http://maven.apache.org/guides/index.html
回答2:
The repository is where your libraries (aka artifacts) are stored. Dependencies are the names of the libaries that your corrent project depends on
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15057138/what-is-the-difference-between-repository-and-dependency-in-maven