responsibility
/ɹɪˌspɑn.səˈbɪl.ə.ti/noun
responsibility is spelled R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is responsability: about 290 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Responsibility is a noun meaning “The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable”. The plural of responsibility is responsibilities.
How many letters and syllables are in responsibility?
| Letters | 14: R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 6 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 6; the most searched, responsability, about 290 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell responsibility?
Responsibility is spelled R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y. 6 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is responsibility?
Responsibility appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce responsibility?
- UK /ɹɪˌspɒn.səˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
- US /ɹɪˌspɑn.səˈbɪl.ə.ti/
- US [ɹɪˌspɑn.səˈbɪl.ə.ɾi]
Responsibility has 6 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-responsibility.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with responsibility?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as responsibility from its last stressed vowel (/ɪləti/):
- possibility
- capability
- probability
- accountability
- fertility
- sustainability
- eligibility
- instability
- vulnerability
- compatibility
- accessibility
- volatility
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of responsibility
- responsibilities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does responsibility mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable.
Responsibility is a heavy burden.
- 2
The state of being liable, culpable, or responsible for something in particular.
- 3
A duty, obligation or liability for which someone is held accountable.
Why didn't you clean the house? That was your responsibility!
- 4
The obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion.
- 5
The obligation for the proper custody, care, and safekeeping of property or funds entrusted to someone’s possession or supervision.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Responsibility in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | responsabilité |
| German | Verantwortung, Verantwortlichkeit , Pflicht |
| Portuguese | responsabilidade |
| Spanish | responsabilidad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does responsibility come from?
From responsible + -ity. Although the components are of French origin, the compound appears to have been formed in English. Later-attested French responsabilité is modeled on the English word, and Italian responsabilità is in turn modeled on the French.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).