Responsibility

How to spell responsibility

14 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce responsibility

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does responsibility mean?

1. nounThe state of being accountable for something, or a duty one is obliged to carry out.

Responsibility in a sentence

• Taking out the loan was a serious responsibility that affected the whole family.

• The manager accepted full responsibility for the missed deadline.

Where does responsibility come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb respondere, which literally meant 'to answer' or 'to pledge in return', built from the prefix re- 'back' and spondere 'to promise solemnly'. The same spondere root gives us 'spouse' and 'sponsor', both rooted in the idea of a solemn pledge. By the time the adjective 'responsible' formed, the sense had shifted from simply answering to being accountable, that is, answerable for one's actions. English added the abstract noun ending to produce 'responsibility' in the 1700s, around the era of growing political and moral debate about who must answer for what. The tricky spelling comes from that buried Latin spons element, which softens to '-sponsi-' and then sprouts the long '-ibility' tail, so the single 's' and the 'i' (not 'a') in the ending are the traps worth remembering.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• spons (from respondere: to answer, to pledge)
• -ibility (noun suffix of capacity or state)