'dependencies' cannot be applied to '(groovy.lang.Closure)'

You can go to Preferences and select "use default gradle wrapper" then rebuild the project. It worked well for me:

Go to

Windows

File -> Settings -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> Build Tools -> Gradle

Mac

Preference -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> Build Tools -> Gradle

and select Use default gradle wrapper

Based on what Android Studio generates, you need to have a top-level project file build.gradle, and another for your app build.gradle.

Top-level:

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.buildscript {    repositories {        jcenter()        maven { url 'http://download.crashlytics.com/maven' }    }    dependencies {        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.1.0'        classpath 'com.crashlytics.tools.gradle:crashlytics-gradle:1.+'        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong        // in the individual module build.gradle files    }}allprojects {    repositories {        jcenter()        maven { url 'http://download.crashlytics.com/maven' }    }}

Application level:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'apply plugin: 'crashlytics'android{    compileSdkVersion rootProject.compileSdkVersion    buildToolsVersion rootProject.buildToolsVersion    defaultConfig {        minSdkVersion rootProject.minSdkVersion        targetSdkVersion rootProject.targetSdkVersion        versionCode rootProject.versionCode        versionName rootProject.versionName    }     buildTypes {        release {            debuggable rootProject.prodDebug            proguardFile 'proguard.cfg'        }    }    packagingOptions {        exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE.txt'        exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE.txt'    }    lintOptions {        abortOnError false    } }     `dependencies {    compile fileTree(dir: "$buildDir/native-libs", include: 'native-libs.jar')    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')    compile project(':FRNDzTER_core')    compile project(':cropper')    compile project(':stickyListHeaders')    compile "com.nostra13.universalimageloader:universal-image-          l                        loader:${rootProject.universalImageLoaderVersion}"    compile "com.google.android.gms:play-    services:${rootProject.googlePlayServicesVersion}"    compile "   "de.keyboardsurfer.android.widget:crouton:${rootProject.croutonVersion}"    compile "com.nineoldandroids:library:${rootProject.nineoldandroidsVersion}"    compile 'com.github.chrisbanes.actionbarpulltorefresh:library:+'    compile 'com.crashlytics.android:crashlytics:1.+'}

But even without all that, your problem is that you have a dependencies within your android plugin config.

android {    dependencies {    }}

remove that empty dependencies block.

EDIT: I also started getting this error with the latest Android Studio, all I had to do was add a newer version of the Gradle plugin, and compileSdkVersion 22.

buildscript {    repositories {        jcenter()        mavenCentral()    }    dependencies {        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.3.0'        classpath 'com.neenbedankt.gradle.plugins:android-apt:1.4'        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong        // in the individual module build.gradle files    }}allprojects {    repositories {        jcenter()        mavenCentral()    }}