responsible

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   being the agent or cause

   determined who was the responsible party

2. 2
   adj

   having an acceptable credit rating

   a responsible borrower

3. 3
   adj

   Having the duty of taking care of something; answerable for an act performed or for its consequences; accountable; amenable, especially legally or politically.

   Parents are responsible for their child's behaviour.

4. 4
   adj

   Being a primary cause of a situation or action and thus able to be blamed or credited for it.

   Who is responsible for this mess?

5. 5
   adj

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

   She has a responsible position in the firm.

6. 6
   adj

   Having good judgment in decision-making.

   But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

7. 7
   adj

   Able to be trusted; reliable; trustworthy.

   He looks like a responsible guy.

8. 8
   noun

   The individual who bears the responsibility for something.

   Were this not so, long since would we have traced directly home the responsibility for the war on Freedom in the Philippines. Long since, would we have hanged the responsibles as traitors to our country.

Etymology

From Middle French responsable, from Old French responsable, responsible, formed from the root of Latin responsus, from respondere. The spelling of the English word is taken from the Old French variant responsible. By surface analysis, response + -ible.