responsible

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈspɒn.sə.bəl/, US /rɪˈspɑːn.sə.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French responsible, now obsolete (modern French responsable),^[2][3][4] from Latin respōnsus, past participle of respondēre (“to respond, answer to, promise in return”),^[3][2] from re- (“back”) and spondēre (“to pledge”),^[3] the source of respond and sponsor.^[2][3] English had the earlier form responsable.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corresponding or answering to something: 1599, in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of His Humour,^[2][5] a sense now obsolete.^[5][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1559.^[6]

Semantic evolution

“Answerable, accountable” to someone for something is from 1643,^[2][5] the 1640s in Etymonline,^[3] and keeps the sense of obligation in the Latin verb.^[3] “Reliable, trustworthy” is from 1691, in Locke,^[2][5] and “involving obligations or duties”, as in a responsible position, from 1855.^[2][5] Morally accountable, capable of rational conduct, is from 1836,^[5] and responsible government from 1839.^[5] Responsibility is from 1787, in Hamilton's Federalist.^[2]

Timeline

• 1599 – corresponding.^[2][5]
• 1643 – answerable, accountable.^[2][5]
• 1691 – reliable, trustworthy.^[2][5]
• 1787 – responsibility.^[2]
• 1836 – morally accountable.^[5]
• 1855 – involving duties.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Obliged to answer for one's actions or for a duty or trust; accountable.
2. Being the cause or source of something: the storm was responsible for the damage.
3. Able to make moral or rational decisions; trustworthy, reliable.
4. Involving important duties or decisions: a responsible job.

Word family

• responsibleness
• responsibly
• nonresponsible
• superresponsible
• unresponsible
• irresponsible
• responsibility

Related words

• respond
• response
• sponsor
• spouse

Usage notes

Some critics hold that responsible should apply only to persons, who can be held accountable, but its use of things in the sense “being the cause of” is well established.^[7] Responsible and answerable imply an obligation that can be enforced by an authority, while liable stresses the possibility of a penalty.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin