Responsibilities

How to spell responsibilities

16 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce responsibilities

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does responsibilities mean?

1. nounThe duties or obligations that a person is required to deal with and answer for.

Responsibilities in a sentence

• The new manager took on extra responsibilities when the team expanded.

• Balancing work and family responsibilities takes careful planning.

Where does responsibilities come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb respondere, which literally meant 'to pledge in return' or 'to answer', formed from re- 'back' and spondere 'to pledge, to promise solemnly'. In Roman use spondere was the word for making a formal binding vow, so a 'response' was originally a return pledge rather than just a reply. From respondere came the Latin idea of being answerable for something, which French shaped into responsable, and English borrowed 'responsible' in the early 1600s. The abstract noun 'responsibility' followed in the 1700s, with the plural 'responsibilities' naming the specific duties a person is answerable for. The same spondere root sits inside 'sponsor' and 'respond', and the long, layered ending (-ible plus -ity plus -es) is exactly what makes the word a marathon to spell, since each unstressed vowel softens to a faint schwa.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• spons (from spondere: to pledge or promise)
• -ible (able to)
• -ity (state of)
• -es (plural)