Responsibility

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Responsibility \Re*spon`si*bil"i*ty\ (r?*sp?n`s?*b?l"?*t?), n.;
     pl. {-ties} (-t?z). [Cf. F. responsabilit['e].]
     1. The state of being responsible, accountable, or
        answerable, as for a trust, debt, or obligation.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. That for which anyone is responsible or accountable; as,
        the resonsibilities of power.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Ability to answer in payment; means of paying.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  responsibility
       n 1: the social force that binds you to your obligations and the
            courses of action demanded by that force; "we must
            instill a sense of duty in our children"; "every right
            implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an
            obligation; every possession, a duty"- John
            D.Rockefeller Jr [syn: {duty}, {obligation}]
       2: the proper sphere or extent of your activities; "it was his
          province to take care of himself" [syn: {province}]
       3: a form of trustworthiness; the trait of being answerable to
          someone for something or being responsible for one's
          conduct; "he holds a position of great responsibility"
          [syn: {responsibleness}] [ant: {irresponsibility}, {irresponsibility}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  131 Moby Thesaurus words for "responsibility":
     accountability, accountableness, accounting for, action, agency,
     agentship, amenability, answerability, answerableness, application,
     arrogation, ascription, assignation, assignment, attachment,
     attribution, auspices, authority, authorization, blame, bossing,
     brevet, burden, care, charge, chargeability, commission,
     commissioning, commitment, conduct, connection with, consignment,
     credit, culpability, cure, dedication to duty, delegated authority,
     delegation, dependability, deputation, derivation from, devolution,
     devolvement, devotion to duty, direction, driving, duteousness,
     dutifulness, duty, embassy, empowerment, entrusting, entrustment,
     errand, etiology, execution, executorship, exequatur, exercise,
     eye, factorship, faithworthiness, fault, full power, functioning,
     guilt, handling, honor, imputation, incorruptibility, incumbency,
     intendance, inviolability, job, jurisdiction, legation, liability,
     license, lieutenancy, management, mandate, manipulation, mission,
     obligation, occupation, office, onus, operancy, operation,
     oversight, palaetiology, performance, performing, placement,
     plenipotentiary power, power of attorney, power to act, practice,
     procuration, proxy, purview, reference to, regency, regentship,
     reliability, responsibleness, role, running, saddling,
     sense of duty, sense of obligation, stability, steering,
     superintendence, supervision, sureness, surveillance, task, trust,
     trustability, trusteeship, trustiness, trustworthiness,
     unfalseness, unperfidiousness, untreacherousness,
     vicarious authority, warrant, work, working, workings
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  RESPONSIBILITY. The obligation to answer for an act done, and to repair any 
  injury it may have caused. 
       2. This obligation arises without any contract, either on the part of 
  the party bound to repair the injury, or of the party injured. The law gives 
  to the person who has suffered loss, a compensation in damages. 
       3. it is a general rule that no one is answerable for the acts of 
  another unless he has, by some act of his own, concurred in them. But when 
  he has sanctioned those acts, either explicitly or by implication, he is 
  responsible. An innkeeper in general, civilly liable for the acts of his 
  servants towards his guests, for anything done in their capacity of 
  servants. The owner of a carriage is also, civilly responsible to a 
  passenger for any injury done by the driver as such. See Driver. 
       4. There are cases where persons are made civilly responsible for the 
  acts of others by particular laws and statutory provisions, when they have 
  not done anything by which they might be considered as participating in such 
  acts. The responsibility which the hundred (q.v.) in England formerly 
  incurred to make good any robbery committed within its precincts, may be 
  mentioned as an instance. A somewhat similar liability is incurred now in 
  some places in this country by a county, when property has been destroyed by 
  a mob. 
       5. Penal responsibility is always personal, and no one can be punished 
  for the commission of a crime but the person who has committed it or his 
  accomplice. Vide Damages; Injury; Loss. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  RESPONSIBILITY, n.  A detachable burden easily shifted to the
  shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor.  In the days
  of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.
  
      Alas, things ain't what we should see
      If Eve had let that apple be;
      And many a feller which had ought
      To set with monarchses of thought,
      Or play some rosy little game
      With battle-chaps on fields of fame,
      Is downed by his unlucky star
      And hollers:  "Peanuts! -- here you are!"
                                                     "The Sturdy Beggar"