Noun: responsibility
| Singular | responsibility |
| Plural | responsibilities |
Sample Sentences
-
Responsibility is a heavy burden.
-
If parents, teachers, and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays, and no Sunday school. [1961 May 9, Newton N. Minow, Television and the Public Interest:]
-
After all, it is undeniable that the B.R. standard coach scored highly in comparative trials with other European railway vehicles on the Continent a few years ago, so that B.R. civil engineers must share responsibility for any defects in its behaviour over here. [1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The riding of B.R. coaches”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 705–706:]
-
The vast majority of American Jews not only greatly dislike President Trump but also believe he has made them less safe: according to a May 2019 poll, nearly three-quarters of Jewish voters believe American Jews are less secure under Trump than they were before, 71 percent disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance, and nearly 60 percent believe that he bears at least some responsibility for the synagogue shootings carried out by white nationalists in Pittsburgh and Poway. [2020 March, Joshua Leifer, “Led Astray”, in The Baffler, number 50:]
-
Why didn't you clean the house? That was your responsibility!
-
The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not to dominate the world [1945 April 12, Harry S. Truman, Address before a Joint Session of the Congress:]
-
The movie clearly and unmistakably gives us a character who understands the Bill of Rights, understands his legal responsibility as a police officer, and nevertheless takes retribution into his own hands. [1971, Roger Ebert, “Dirty Harry”, in Chicago Sun-Times:]
Nouns inflected like responsibility
clitoridectomy,
royal jelly,
whoopsy,
surrogacy,
urinary,
rastrography,
renoscopy,
sourtop blueberry,
forcible entry,
superficiary,
lipidosity,
potability,
phonography,
hyperproperty,
greenery,
conjugality,
ring singularity,
Brittany,
ignobility,
obscurity, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From responsible + -ity. Although the components are of French origin, the compound appears to have been formed in English. Later-attested French responsabilité is modeled on the English word, and Italian responsabilità is in turn modeled on the French. See: French Nouns '
responsabilité', Italian Nouns '
responsabilità'.
Verbs referencing "responsibility"
French Nouns
responsabilité.