liability

English

Etymology

From liable +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪəˈbɪlɪti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: li‧abil‧ity

Noun

liability (countable and uncountable, plural liabilities)

1. An obligation, debt or responsibility owed to someone.

   Coordinate term: asset

   • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw:

     "I was to say that Maw and Meggins disclaim all responsibility," continued the other. "They admit no liability at all, but in consideration of your son's services they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation."

   • 2022 September 29, Kalyeena Makortoff, Sarah Butler, “‘I’d never seen anything like it’: how market turmoil sparked a pension fund selloff”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Those products – known as liability-driven investing, or LDIs – help offset liabilities and risks on pension funds’ books.

   1. (accounting) Any item recorded on the right-hand side of a balance sheet.

      Antonym: asset

2. A handicap that holds something back, a drawback, someone or something that is a burden to whoever is required to take care of them; a person or action that exposes others to greater risk.

   Coordinate term: asset

   • 2016 January 31, “Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?”, in Vanity Fair‎^[2]:

     Asked if at some point Huma becomes a liability to Hillary, the long-term Clinton insider replies, “It’s like anything else. I don’t think so, but you know I don’t have any idea. Hillary is very loyal, but she’s obviously pragmatic.”

   1. (informal, mildly derogatory) A person on a team that is more of a hindrance than a help.

      You're a bloody liability sometimes!

3. The likelihood of something happening.
4. The condition of being susceptible to something.

Derived terms

• alternative liability
• chancel repair liability
• current liability
• enterprise liability
• imputed liability
• liability insurance
• limited-liability
• limited liability
• limited liability company
• no liability
• private limited liability company
• public limited liability company
• secondary liability
• strict liability
• vicarious liability

 

Translations

debt

• Bulgarian: дълг (bg) m (dǎlg)
• Catalan: responsabilitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 負債／负债 (zh) (fùzhài), 債務／债务 (zh) (zhàiwù)

• Czech: pasivum (cs) n
• Dutch: aansprakelijkheid (nl) f
• Finnish: vastuu (fi), vastuunalaisuus (fi), velka (fi)
• French: responsabilité (fr) f, dette (fr)
• Georgian: პასუხისმგებლობა (ṗasuxismgebloba), ვალდებულება (valdebuleba), დავალიანება (davalianeba), ვალი (vali)
• German: Schuld (de) f, Schulden (de) f, Verbindlichkeit (de) f
• Hungarian: passzíva (hu), passzívum (hu), tartozás (hu), adósság (hu), kintlevőség (hu), elkötelezettség (hu)
• Italian: responsabilità (it) f
• Japanese: 負債 (ja) (ふさい, fusai), 借金 (ja) (しゃっきん, shakkin)
• Malayalam: ബാധ്യത (ml) (bādhyata)
• Maori: kawenga, pūnama
• Mongolian: өглөг (mn) (öglög)
• Persian: مسئولیت (fa)
• Polish: odpowiedzialność (pl) f
• Portuguese: responsabilidade (pt) f, obrigação (pt) m, dívida (pt) f
• Romanian: responsabilitate (ro)
• Russian: обяза́тельство (ru) n (objazátelʹstvo), долг (ru) m (dolg), задо́лженность (ru) f (zadólžennostʹ), пасси́в (ru) m pl (passív)
• Spanish: responsabilidad (es) f
• Swedish: skuld (sv) c
• Tagalog: sagutin
• Telugu: అప్పు (te) (appu)
• Turkish: borç (tr)
• Ukrainian: заборго́ваність f (zaborhóvanistʹ), борг (uk) m (borh)

responsibility, obligation — see also responsibility,‎ obligation

• Bulgarian: задължение (bg) n (zadǎlženie), отговорност (bg) f (otgovornost)
• Finnish: velvollisuus (fi)
• German: Verbindlichkeit (de) f, Verpflichtung (de) f, Verantwortung (de) f
• Hungarian: felelősség (hu), kötelezettség (hu), felelősségvállalás (hu), kötelezettségvállalás (hu)
• Malayalam: ബാധ്യത (ml) (bādhyata)
• Maori: kawenga (a te ture)
• Spanish: imputabilidad (es) f

(accounting) any item recorded on the right-hand side of a balance sheet

• Finnish: velka (fi), menoerä, passiivat pl (liabilities as a whole)
• French: passif (fr) m
• Polish: pasywa pl

handicap, drawback, or burden — see also burden,‎ drawback

• Finnish: taakka (fi), rasite (fi)
• German: Nachteil (de) m, Hindernis (de) n, Handicap (de) n
• Hungarian: teher (hu), tehertétel (hu), baj (hu), gond (hu), nehézség (hu), hátrány (hu)
• Malayalam: ബാധ്യത (ml) (bādhyata)

likelihood of an event

• Finnish: todennäköisyys (fi), mahdollisuus (fi)
• Georgian: შესაძლებლობა (šesaʒlebloba), მოსალოდნელობა (mosalodneloba), ალბათობა (albatoba)
• German: Möglichkeit (de) f, Wahrscheinlichkeit (de) f
• Hungarian: valószínűség (hu), esély (hu)
• Portuguese: possibilidade (pt) f
• Russian: возмо́жность (ru) f (vozmóžnostʹ)
• Swedish: belastning (sv)

the condition of being susceptible to something — see also susceptibility

• Finnish: alttius (fi)
• German: Anfälligkeit (de) f, Empfänglichkeit f
• Hungarian: hajlam (hu)
• Spanish: propensión (es) f, predisposición (es) f, susceptibilidad f

Anagrams

• alibility