Other forms: responsibilities
Responsibility is the duty of being the one who has to take care of something. Take responsibility, a position of responsibility, it is not my responsibility.
It runs in two directions and both are common. Forward-looking responsibility is a duty you have from now on: responsibility for the accounts. Backward-looking responsibility is blame for something that happened: claim responsibility, accept responsibility. The prepositions match the two: responsibility for something, responsibility to somebody. Note the plural responsibilities, meaning the set of duties a job carries, and that claim responsibility is the fixed phrase used about attacks.
1nounresponsibilityA duty to deal with or take care of something.
“Locking up is his responsibility, not mine.”
synonyms: duty, obligation
2nounblameBlame for something that has happened.
“Nobody has accepted responsibility for the mistake.”
3nounstateThe state of being trusted with important things.
“It is a job with a great deal of responsibility.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
responsibility is a duty.
Latin
responsus
Old French
responsable
Middle French
responsable
English
responsible
English, today
responsibility
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. responsible comes from Middle French responsable, from Old French responsable, responsible, formed from the root of Latin responsus, from respondeō. The spelling of the English word is taken from the Old French variant responsible. by surface analysis, response + -ible.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA