What does responsible mean?

Definitions for responsible
rɪˈspɒn sə bəlre·spon·si·ble

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word responsible.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. responsibleadjective

    worthy of or requiring responsibility or trust; or held accountable

    "a responsible adult"; "responsible journalism"; "a responsible position"; "the captain is responsible for the ship's safety"; "the cabinet is responsible to the parliament"

  2. responsible, responsible for(p)adjective

    being the agent or cause

    "determined who was the responsible party"; "termites were responsible for the damage"

  3. creditworthy, responsibleadjective

    having an acceptable credit rating

    "a responsible borrower"

Wiktionary

  1. responsibleadjective

    Answerable for an act performed or for its consequences; accountable; amenable, especially legally or politically.

    Parents are responsible for their child's behaviour.

  2. responsibleadjective

    Capable of responding to any reasonable claim; able to answer reasonably for one's conduct and obligations; capable of rational conduct.

  3. responsibleadjective

    Involving responsibility; involving a degree of personal accountability on the part of the person concerned.

    She has a responsible position in the firm.

  4. responsibleadjective

    Being a primary cause or agent of some event or action; capable of being credited for something, or of being held liable for something.

    Who is responsible for this mess?

  5. responsibleadjective

    Able to be trusted; reliable; trustworthy.

    He looks like a responsible guy.

  6. Etymology: From responsable, from responsus, from respondere

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Responsibleadjective

    Etymology: from responsus, Lat.

    He as much satisfies the itch of telling news; he as much persuades his hearers; and all this while he has his retreat secure, and stands not responsible for the truth of his relations. Government of the Tongue.

    The necessity of a proportion of money to trade depends on money as a pledge, which writing cannot supply the place of; since the bill, I receive from one man, will not be accepted as security by another, he not knowing that the bill is legal, or that the man bound is honest or responsible. John Locke.

ChatGPT

  1. responsible

    Responsible refers to having an obligation or duty to deal with something or having control over someone or something. It also refers to being accountable for one's actions or decisions, and capable of making moral or rational decisions on one's own. Furthermore, it can also imply reliability or dependability, particularly in fulfilling tasks or roles.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Responsibleadjective

    liable to respond; likely to be called upon to answer; accountable; answerable; amenable; as, a guardian is responsible to the court for his conduct in the office

  2. Responsibleadjective

    able to respond or answer for one's conduct and obligations; trustworthy, financially or otherwise; as, to have a responsible man for surety

  3. Responsibleadjective

    involving responsibility; involving a degree of accountability on the part of the person concerned; as, a responsible office

Editors Contribution

  1. responsible

    To be accountable or trusted to action or make a choice or decision.

    Our children are responsible at a very young age as we teach and educate them to be responsible people.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 18, 2020  

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'responsible' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1062

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'responsible' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1492

  3. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'responsible' in Adjectives Frequency: #133

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce responsible?

How to say responsible in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of responsible in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of responsible in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of responsible in a Sentence

  1. Aisha Birma:

    This election is not about Buhari or Jonathan, it's about Nigeria, it's about freedom, it's about change, it's about unity, what we have gone through, the Boko Haram insurgency for the past six years in Borno. ... You, Jonathan, were responsible for our lives and property. When you don't protect our lives and property, you can't talk about infrastructure, education ... Security is paramount.

  2. Daniel Beard:

    The branches' activities did not involve creating, developing or managing those rights. Based on the facts of this case, the primary line defies reality and common sense, the activities of these two branches in Ireland simply could not be responsible for generating almost all of Apple's profits outside the Americas.

  3. Neil Basu:

    This latest horrendous turn of events has only served to strengthen the resolve of our investigation team as we work to identify those responsible for this outrageous, reckless and barbaric act, they are unable to say at this moment whether or not the nerve agent found in this incident is linked to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

  4. Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger:

    We see today on the streets in big cities in America defacing all monuments, defacing American history, disregard for American history, you disregard your past you basically forsake your future because the only responsible way to confront the future, to advance in the future is by relying on, by studying your past and American past and core element has been Judeo-Christian values.

  5. Dominic Raab:

    In terms of who is responsible, the picture is not entirely clear.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

responsible#1#1237#10000

Translations for responsible

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"responsible." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/responsible>.

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