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duty

noun

Simple meaning

That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dootee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈduti

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. countableuncountable

    That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.

  2. A government tax on imports or exports

  3. countable

    A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff.

  4. uncountable

    The state of being at work and responsible for or doing a particular task.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.

Used this way, duty is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use duty

  • “We must instill a sense of duty in our children.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

active dutyduty boundfirst duty

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • duty assignmentnounCompound term

    A duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces).

  • duty periodnounCompound term

    The time period during which you are at work.

  • duty tournounCompound term

    A period of time spent in military service.

  • breach of dutynounCompound term

    A breach of due care.

  • civic dutynounCompound term

    The responsibilities of a citizen.

  • countervailing dutynounCompound term

    A duty imposed to offset subsidies by foreign governments.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.