Meaning & use
responsibility
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Meanings
nouncountable
A duty or task that someone is expected or required to deal with.
Grammar: Often plural for several duties: responsibilities; singular for one clear duty.
Patterns
- have responsibility for something
- take on responsibility
- a heavy responsibility
- responsibility to do something
Feeding the dog is my responsibility this week.
Managers have responsibility for safety in the building.
She took on the responsibility of organizing the trip.
noununcountable
The state of being accountable for an action, mistake, or outcome.
Grammar: Often with take or accept: take responsibility for the error; it names blame or ownership rather than a task list.
Patterns
- take responsibility for something
- accept responsibility
- deny responsibility
The airline accepted responsibility for the lost bags.
He refused to take responsibility for the broken window.
Parents teach children to accept responsibility for their choices.
Word forms
| plural | responsibilities |
|---|
Common combinations
- take responsibility for
- A good leader takes responsibility for the team's mistakes.
- have responsibility for
- The nurse has responsibility for six patients tonight.
- sense of responsibility
- A part-time job can build a teenager's sense of responsibility.
- moral responsibility
- Voters feel a moral responsibility to learn the issues.
Synonyms and how they differ
- duty
- Duty is an obligation, often moral or official; responsibility can be assigned and owned by a person.
- obligation
- Obligation stresses requirement; responsibility includes ongoing care and being answerable.
- accountability
- Accountability emphasizes answering for results; responsibility can mean the duty before any result.
Opposites
Word family
- responsible adjective
- Having a duty or being answerable; also reliable.
- irresponsible adjective
- Failing to think about duties or consequences.
- responsibly adverb
- In a careful, answerable way.
Commonly confused: responsibility or responsibility vs response?
responsibility vs responsibility vs response
A response is an answer or reaction; a responsibility is a duty or being answerable.
Practice
The finance director has responsibility ___ the annual budget.
Choose one answer.
The fixed pattern is have responsibility for something. The other prepositions do not collocate with this noun in standard English.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “responsibility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.