responsibility
noun
Simple meaning
A duty, obligation or liability for which someone is held accountable.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reespahnsuhbiluhteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹispɑnsəˈbɪləti
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A duty, obligation or liability for which someone is held accountable.
The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable. [from 18th c.]
The obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion.
The state of being liable, culpable, or responsible for something in particular.
The obligation for the proper custody, care, and safekeeping of property or funds entrusted to someone's possession or supervision.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A duty, obligation or liability for which someone is held accountable.
Used this way, responsibility is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use responsibility
- “He holds a position of great responsibility.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The responsibilities of a citizen.
An awareness of your obligations.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: duty or obligation
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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.