Standard Lemma guide

irresponsibility

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 R AH0 S P AA2 N S AH0 B IH1 L AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The character or state of being irresponsible; lack of or freedom from responsibility; want of accountability.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a form of untrustworthiness; the trait of lacking a sense of responsibility and not feeling accountable for your actions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: irresponsibleness

Antonyms: responsibility

Broader terms: untrustworthiness, untrustiness

Narrower terms: undependability, undependableness, unreliability, unreliableness, flightiness, arbitrariness, whimsicality, whimsy, whimsey, capriciousness, carefreeness

History

Etymology

From ir- + responsibility or irresponsible + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِنْعِدام مَسْؤُولِيَّة (inʕidām masʔūliyya) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Asturian: irresponsabilidá — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Bulgarian: безотговорност (bezotgovornost) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Catalan: irresponsabilitat — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不負責任 /不负责任 (bù fùzérèn) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Chinese Mandarin: 無責任 /无责任 (wúzérèn) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Czech: neodpovědnost — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Danish: ansvarsløshed — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Danish: uansvarlighed — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Finnish: vastuuttomuus — character or state of being irresponsible
  • French: irresponsabilité — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Galician: irresponsabilidade — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Georgian: უპასუხისმგებლობა (uṗasuxismgebloba) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • German: Verantwortungslosigkeit — character or state of being irresponsible
  • German: Unverantwortlichkeit — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Greek: ανευθυνότητα (anefthynótita) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Hungarian: felelőtlenség — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Indonesian: ketidakbertanggungjawaban — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Irish: neamhfhreagracht — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Italian: irresponsabilità — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Japanese: 無責任 (musekinin) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Latvian: bezatbildība — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Polish: nieodpowiedzialność — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Portuguese: irresponsabilidade — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Russian: безотве́тственность (bezotvétstvennostʹ) — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Spanish: irresponsabilidad — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Swedish: ansvarslöshet — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Swedish: oansvarighet — character or state of being irresponsible
  • Ukrainian: безвідповіда́льність (bezvidpovidálʹnistʹ) — character or state of being irresponsible